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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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http://www.archive.org/details/childtrainingaseOOjaco 


CHILD  TRAINING 

AS  AN 

EXACT  SCIENCE 

A   Treatise  Based   upon    the    Principles  of 
Modern  Psychology^  Normal  and  Abnormal 


BY 

GEORGE   W.    JACOBY,    M.D. 

FELLOW     OF    THE     NEW     YORK    ACADEMY     OF     MEDICINE,     MEMBER     OF    THE 
AMERICAN      MEDICAL     ASSOCIATION,     AMERICAN      NEUROLOGICAL     ASSO- 
CIATION,   AND    NEW    YORK    NEUROLOGICAL    SOCIETY,     CONSULTING 
NEUROLOGIST   TO    THE    HOSPITAL   FOR    NERVOUS   DISEASES,  THE 
GERMAN     HOSPITAL,    THE    BETH     ISRAEL    HOSPITAL,    THE 
RED     CROSS     HOSPITAL,     AND     THE     INFIRMARY     FOR 
WOMEN      AND      CHILDREN      IN      THE      CITY      OF 
NEW    YORK,     ETC. 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS 


FUNK    &    WAGNALLS    COMPANY 

New  York  and  London 

1914 


Copyright,   1914,  by 

FUNK    &    WAGNALLS    COMPANY 

[Printed  in  the  United  States  of  Americal 

Published,  November,   1914 


?J 


J 


r^  PEEFACE 

f)        A  TREATISE  on  child  training  as  an  exact  science, 
based  upon  the  principles  of  modern  psychology, 
medicine  and  hygiene,  has  seemed  to  me  to  be  an 
)    urgent  necessity.    Pedagogy  and  medicine  in  them- 
(y    selves  are  distinctly  separate  fields  of  science.     The 
J     former  is  concerned  only  with  the  mental  and  moral 
C>     development,  the  latter  only    with    the     physical 
jU  development  of  the  child.     The  points  of  contact 
between  the  two  become  apparent  only  when  it  is 
realized  that  children  with    bodily  abnormalities 
of  development  as  a  rule  also  show  disorder  in 
their  mental  development,  and  vice  versa.     If  the 
intellectual  weakness  caused  by  goiter  and  adenoid 
vegetations  is  an  evidence  of  the  close   connection 
existing  between  bodily  conformation  and  mental 
activity'',  then  it  should  not  be  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  similar  indications  could  lead  to  still 
other  deductions.    "Without  exaggeration  it  might 
C    be  claimed,  likewise,  that  every  organ  of  the  body 
^    may  have  a  relation  to  mental  functions.     In  order 
to  obtain  a  clear  conception  of  the  dependence  of 


J 


iv  PREFACE 

psychic  vital  manifestations  upon  physical  pro- 
cesses, we  need  but  think  of  that  steadily  augment- 
ing nervousness  in  children  which  seems  to  be  in- 
separably associated  with  increasing  culture. 

Without  doubt  there  are  children  who,  notwith- 
standing physical  infirmities,  develop  mentally  in 
a  normal  maimer,  just  as  there  are  children  in 
whom,  notwithstanding  normal  bodily  development, 
mental  defects  may  be  recognized.  These,  how- 
ever, are  exceptional  manifestations  which  can  not 
serve  as  a  guide  for  an  educational  treatise.  The 
basis  of  all  pedagogic  training  must  be  the  general 
assumption  that  only  in  a  healthy  body  can  there 
exist  a  healthy  mind,  one  capable  of  harmonious 
development.  Protection  of  the  body  against 
disease-bearing  influences  which  react  upon  the 
psychic  functions,  or  the  removal  of  an  existing 
disorder,  does  not  belong  to  the  domain  of  peda- 
gogic science,  but  is  part  of  medicine  and  hygiene. 
For  this  reason  the  teacher  and  educator  can  not 
repel  the  cooperation  of  the  physician.  We  may 
go  still  further  and  maintain  that  in  the  case  of 
healthy  children  as  well  the  science  of  medicine  is 
a  necessary  adjunct  to  pedagogy.  There  can  be 
no    doubt    that    many    teachers    and    educators, 


PREFACE  V 

through  an  inadequate  understanding  or  knowledge 
of  the  psychology  of  childhood,  commit  grave  errors 
which  manifest  themselves  in  overtaxation,  exces- 
sive severity  and  a  disregard  of  the  requirements 
of  school  hygiene  and  which,  sooner  or  later,  result 
in  disordered  development  of  the  child.  Then,  too, 
there  are  children  who,  occupying  a  border  line 
between  health  and  disease,  for  the  time  being  do 
not  manifest  any  decided  deficiency  and,  therefore, 
give  the  impression  that  they  are  normally  de- 
veloped, but  who,  because  of  their  slight  neuro- 
pathic heritage,  easily  break  down  as  a  result  of 
increased  pedagogic  treatment.  In  such  cases  the 
pedagogic  task  of  medicine  is  a  prophylactic  one, 
while  wherever  the  psychopathic  inferiority  is 
marked,  it  must  be  a  question  of  remedial  influence. 
In  any  circumstances,  however,  prevention  is  better 
than  cure,  and  the  prophylactic  side  of  medical 
pedagogy  should  have  at  least  the  same  considera- 
tion that  is  given  to  the  therapeutic  side. 

It  is  not  just  to  expect  the  pedagog  to  possess 
sufficient  knowledge  of  physiology,  pathology, 
therapeutics  and  hygiene  to  be  able,  in  each  indi- 
vidual ease,  to  determine  unaided  whether  pro- 
phylactic or  therapeutic  care  is  requisite.       Still 


vi  PREFACE 

less  can  it  be  expected  that  teacher  and  educator 
should  be  capable  of  conducting  such  treatment 
independently.  Consider  the  immense  complexity 
of  the  human  organism ;  consider  the  daily  expand- 
ing volume  of  the  scientific  armamentarium  which 
the  physician  requires  in  the  exercise  of  his  mani- 
fold duties;  and,  finally,  consider  that  even  the 
physician,  trained  as  a  specialist,  is  not  immune 
from  serious  error.  If  we  take  all  these  facts  into 
account,  we  can  not  hope  for  one  moment  that  the 
pedagog  shall  successfully  solve  even  those  medical 
problems  which  must,  necessarily,  confront  him  in 
his  own  sphere  of  activity. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  would  seem  that  teacher 
and  educator  should  at  least  possess  sufficient 
understanding  of  medico-pedagogic  problems  to 
enable  them  to  do  effective  cooperative  work  with 
the  physicians.  It  is  an  incontrovertible  and  fre- 
quently deplored  fact  that,  through  imperfect 
understanding  of  the  psychic  and  physical  pro- 
cesses which  take  place  during  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  child,  practical  training,  both 
in  the  home  and  in  the  school,  often  is  responsible 
for  most  serious  mistakes.  Many  times  the  fact  is 
overlooked  that  all  impairment  of  physical  develop- 


PREFACE  vii 

ment,  all  inadequate  nourishment,  all  deficiencies 
of  sensory  perceptions,  etc.,  constitute  obstacles  to 
mental  development,  and  that  often  it  is  merely 
their  early  recognition  and  effacement  that  is  re- 
quired to  bring  the  child  back  to  a  normal  state. 
Systematic  cultural  direction  of  the  child's  mental 
life  necessarily  calls  for  a  certain  knowledge  of 
the  nervous  system  and  its  functions.  The  peda- 
gog  must  understand  the  art  of  observing,  and 
must  be  sufficiently  versed  in  physiological  psy- 
chology to  differentiate  the  normal  and  the 
"atypical"  and  to  distinguish  between  fault  and 
disease.  Only  in  this  way  will  the  art  of  education 
attain  that  rational  character  which  is  based  upon 
reason  and  scientific  experience,  and  without  which 
it  can  be  no  more  than  a  groping  in  the  dark,  a 
planless  experimentation.  It  is  true  that  pedagogy 
to-day  possesses  a  valuable  aid  in  the  corps  of 
school  physicians  who  at  regular  intervals  subject 
the  children  to  a  careful  examination,  the  result  of 
which  is  made  the  basis  for  further  medico-peda- 
gogic procedures.  But,  aside  from  the  fact  that 
school  physicians  have  been  appointed  only  in  the 
larger  cities,  and  the  outlook  for  their  general 
employment  is  not  good,  the  school  physician  sees 


viii  PREFACE 

the  children  only  from  time  to  time  and  can,  there- 
fore, not  have  that  intimate  knowledge  which  the 
teacher,  who  has  the  children  about  him  daily, 
should  possess. 

For  the  teacher  and  educator,  therefore,  the 
necessity  of  obtaining  knowledge  about  questions 
bordering  upon  medicine  and  pedagogy  will  con- 
tinue to  exist.  This  knowledge  the  present  book 
strives  to  impart.  Just  as  impracticable  as  would 
be  an  attempt  to  cover  the  entire  field  of  law  in 
a  work  on  forensic  medicine  or  of  religion  in  a 
book  on  pastoral  medicine — it  being  necessary  only 
to  present  so  much  of  the  subject  as  is  required  for 
the  special  purposes  of  comparison  involved — 
would  be  an  effort,  in  a  work  on  education  based 
on  medicine  and  hygiene,  to  give  the  reader  an 
exhaustive  treatise  on  pedagogy.  Such  an  under- 
taking, indeed,  would  be  a  mistake,  as  it  would 
carry  the  physician  into  fields  foreign  to  him  and 
he  could,  of  course,  tell  the  trained  teacher  and 
educator  nothing  new  concerning  purely  pedagogic 
questions.  I  have,  therefore,  limited  myself  to  a 
presentation  of  that  medico-hygienic  scientific 
material  which  the  pedagog  can  not  forego  using 
in  the  rational  exercise  of  his  profession. 


PREFACE  ix 

I  hope  the  reader  may  gain  from  a  study  of  this 
book  the  conviction  that — as  Krafft-Ebing  has  said 
— many  of  the  errors  and  severities  of  education 
will  fade  away,  many  an  improper  choice  of  a  life 
occupation  will  be  avoided,  and,  consequently,  many 
a  psychic  existence  will  be  saved  when  pedagogy 
makes  a  more  profound  study  of  the  pathological 
conditions  that  influence  the  human  body. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 3 

Ideas  compared  to  seeds — Appreciation  of  the 
individuality  of  the  child — A  ' '  normal ' '  standard 
• — Atypical  children — Value  of  physiologic  psy- 
chology. 

Part  First:    Historical  Survey   ....     15 

Helplessness  of  the  older  pedagogy — Ancient 
superstitions — Goggenmos'  training  school  for 
cretins — Guggenbiihl 's  institution  on  the  Abend- 
berg — The  ' '  savage  of  the  Aveyron ' ' — Itard, 
Voisin  and  Seguin — Reil  's  ' '  Rhapsodies ' ' — De- 
velopment of  experimental  psychology — Close 
connection  between  medicine  and  pedagogy. 

Part   Second:    The  Psychology  of   Child- 
hood    33 

I.     A  General  Consideration  of  the  Ner- 
vous System  and  Its  Functions   ,     33 

A.     Organs  of  Mental  Activity     .      .     33 

A.  Brain  and  Spinal  Cord  ....  33 
Voluntary  and  involuntary  muscular  actions — 
Structure  of  the  nervous  system — White  and  gray 
substance — The  cerebrum — Cortical  centers — The 
cerebellum — Pons  and  oblongata — Reflex  move- 
ments— Ganglion  cells  and  psychic  activity — 
Relationship  of  mind  and  body. 

B.  The  Peripheral  Nerves  ....  41 
Sensory  nerves — Motor  nerves — Specific  proper- 
ties— Sympathetic  nervous  system. 

C.  Psychic  Functions 49 

Reciprocal  action  in  the  central  organs — Differen- 
tiation of  the  objects  in  the  surrounding  world — 
Memory — Sense  deceptions — Correction  of  physio- 
logical sense  deceptions — * '  Attention ' '  or  thought 


xii  CONTENTS 

PACE 

concentration — Automatic  activity  of  the  brain — • 
Pathological  sense  deceptions — Lack  of  critical 
power — Gaps  in  sensory  impressions — Helen 
Keller — Eeaction-time  and  its  measurement — 
Development  of  the  brain  cortex — Senile  changes 
— Sleep — Differences  between  sleep  and  uncon- 
sciousness— Dreams — Sensory  impressions  in  sleep. 

B,     Development  of  the  Child's 

Mental  Activity 74 

Eeflex  movements  in  fetal  life — Memory  pictures 
in  early  childhood — Apperceptions  of  sensory  im- 
pressions— How  nerve  tracts  become  ' '  passable ' ' 
— Learning  to  read — Learning  to  speak — Motor 
aphasia — Sensory  aphasia — Amnesic  aphasia — • 
Fundamental  law  of  biogenesis — The  struggle  for 
existence — Laws  of  heredity — Johann  Gregor 
Mendel — Heredity  in  plants  and  animals — Appli- 
cation of  the  Mendelian  law  to  man — The  organs 
of  speech. 

II.     The   Intellectual   Development   of 

the  Child 95 

The  principle  of  progression — The  principle  of 
evolution — Expansion  of  sensory  perceptions — • 
The  imagination — Social  feelings — Influence  of 
literature — Isolated  perceptions — Wundt  's  law — 
Perimetry — Speech  development — Physiological 
Sitammering — Agrammatism — The  Binet-Sinion 
test — The  esthesiometer  test — Overburdening — 
Sexual  dissipation — Sexual  hygiene — ' '  Nature 
knows  only  individuals" — Classification  of  Chil- 
dren— Prevention   of  psychic   ' '  infection. ' ' 

Part    Third:    The   Psychic   Abnormalities 

OF  Childhood 152 

A.     Organic  Defects 152 

Adenoid  vegetations  —  Aprosexia  —  Cretinism — 
The  goiter  regions — Cretinism  and  the  thyroid 
gland — Causation  of  goiter — Kocher's  experi- 
ments— Myxedema  following  thyroid  operations 
— Mongolism — Congenital  absence  of  sensory 
functions — Idiocy — Soul  blindness — Soul  deaf- 
ness— Principles  of  classification — The  fixation 
test — Active  and  passive  attention— The  Moron 
group — The  imbeciles — The  idiots — The  question 


CONTENTS  xiii 

PAGE 

of  artificial  sterilization— Causation  of  idiocy — 
Alcoholism  —  Syi)hilis  —  Head  injuries  —  Brain 
changes  —  Hydrocephalus  —  Microcephalus  — 
Secondary  fecble-mindedness — Influence  of  pubes- 
cence— Premature  dementia — Apathetic  and  ex- 
cited imbeciles — Stuttering — Moral  insanity — 
Predominance  of  egotistic  impulses. 

B.     Functional  Disorders      .      .     .      .210 

Neurasthenia — Phobias — Hysteria, — Disorders  of 
the  intellect — Diseases  of  the  will. 

Part  Fourth:   Prophylactic  Training  .      .  221 
%^  A.     The  Parents 221 

Insufficiency  of  legal  enactments — Cure  of  con- 
stitutional anomalies — Surveillance  of  pregnancy 
— The  cure  of  the  new-born. 

B.     The  Children 228 

A.  Development  of  Sensory  Activity  .  229 
The  Montessori  Method — Self-development  of  the 
child— The  adaptation  of  pedagogic  methods  to 
the  individuality— Development  of  sensory  activ- 
ity— Practical  results. 

B.  Bodily  Development       .      .      .      •   243 

Avoidance  of  stimulants — Food  and  dietetics — 
Malnutrition — Open  air  life — Hardening  pro- 
cedures —  Gymnastics  —  Athletics  —  Eurythmic 
movements  —  Physiology  of  coordination — De- 
velopment of  the  musical  sense. 

C.  Intellectual  Development  .  .  .  275 
Manual  instruction — Kindergarten  o'ccupations — 
Drawing — Writing — Singing — Correct  speaking — 
Atypical  children — Overburdening — Supplemen- 
tary schools  for  deficient  children — The  only  child 
— True  significance   of   individualization. 

D.  Formation  of  tJie  Character  and 

the  Will 303 

Natural  egotism — Education's  aim — The  free 
choice  of  a  life  pursuit. 

Part  Fifth:   Therapeutic  Training  .      .      .  319 
I.     The  Educable 319 


xiv  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

A.  Causal  Treatment 319 

Surgical  treatment  of  aprosexia — Microcephalic 
children — Hytlrocej)lialus — Organotherapy  in  cre- 
tinism— Hyperthyroidism. 

B.  Symptomatic  Treatment   .     ,      .  331 

Bad  habits — facial  contortions — Bedwetting — 
Corporal  punishment  not  an  educational  measure 
— Psychotherapy — Exercise  and  repose — Manual 
training. 

II.     The  Uneducable 363 

Institutional  treatment  for  low-grade  idiots — 
Care  for  their  bodily  comfort — Habituation  to 
cleanliness — Simple  occupations — Family  care. 

Part  Sixth:    Conclusion 369 

Literature 373 

Index 379 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING  PAGE 

1.  Edouard  Seguin 20 

2.  Maria  Montessori 28 

3.  Adenoid  Vegetations 156 

4.  Sporadic  Cretinism 160 

5.  Group  of  Mongolian  Idiots  .      .      .  172 

6.  High  Moron 180 

7.  Low  Moron 192 

8.  High  Imbecile 194 

9.  Low  Imbecile 200 

10.  Idiot 204 

11.  Microcephalic  Idiot 210 

12.  Montessori  Children  at  "Work  .     .  240 

13.  Eurythmy;  Correlation  op 

Movements 272 

(Plate  A.) 

14.  Eurythmy;  Correlation  of 

Movements 274 

(Plate  B.) 

15.  Sporadic  Cretinism 328 

(A)  Child  4  years  of  age. 

(B)  Same   child   after    5    weeks'    treatment    by 

thyroid  extract. 

(C)  Same  child  after  14  months'  treatment  by 

thyroid  extract. 

XV 


CHILD    TRAINING   AS    AN 
EXACT    SCIENCE 


INTRODUCTION 

Ideas  may  be  compared  to  seeds — the  viable 
ones  mature  while  the  others  perish.  Certain 
seeds  develop  slowly,  then  take  root  more  deeply  in 
order  the  longer  to  withstand  injurious  influences. 
It  is  the  same  in  the  domain  of  thought.  Neither 
the  dazzling  phrases  of  unqualified  reformers  nor 
the  untenable  deductions  of  passionate  fantasts  are 
able  to  exert  any  decisive  influence  upon  the 
currents  of  the  times.  It  is  true  such  men  may 
sway  the  unthinking  masses  and  attain  momentary 
success  by  substituting  the  products  of  their  fertile 
imaginations  for  actual  facts.  But  enduring 
success,  a  decisive  influence  upon  our  conditions  of 
life,  is  gained  only  by  those  ideas  which,  being  the 
products  of  necessity,  mature  and  take  on  a  more 
and  more  definite  shape  through  slow  development, 
thus  giving  to  the  investigating  intellect  proof  of 
their  viability. 

Appreciation  of  the  individuality  of  the  child 
is  an  idea  of  this  kind.  The  insufficiencies  of  the 
method  of  instruction  and  education  which  had 
in  view  only  the  ''average  child"  having  been  dis- 

3 


4  INTRODUCTION 

regarded  for  many  years,  it  remains  for  modern 
research  to  call  attention  to  them. 

After  Guggenbiihl  and  Seguin,  of  both  of  whom 
we  will  speak  again,  had  shown  that  the  principle 
of  individualization  could  be  the  means  of  causing 
material  improvement  in  certain  forms  of  psycho- 
pathic inferiority,  the  Copenhagen  physician,  AVil- 
liara  ]\Ieyer,  came  forward  with  a  series  of  obser- 
vations which  showed  that  obstructed  nose-breath- 
ing, caused  by  adenoid  vegetation,  not  only  hin- 
dered the  bodily  development  of  the  child,  but  also 
hampered  its  intellectual  efficiency.  These  dis- 
coveries gave  impetus  to  further  investigations  as 
to  the  influence  of  bodily  abnormalities  upon  the 
development  of  mental  imperfections.  Not  only 
were  these  studies  the  means  of  materially  in- 
creasing the  prevailing  knowledge  of  the  muta- 
tional relationships  between  brain  and  intellect, 
the  faculty  of  thought  and  its  correlative  physical 
organ,  but,  to  the  astonishment  of  all,  it  was  also 
shown  that  the  ideas  then  current  concerning  the 
human  organism  still  in  a  state  of  development 
were  entirely  erroneous. 

Children  were  supposed  to  adapt  themselves  to 
the  pattern  constructed  by  means  of  a  "normal" 


INTRODUCTION  5 

standard.  Those  who  were  backward  in  the 
accomplishment  of  the  allotted  task  were  con- 
sidered inadequately  endowed,  or,  what  perhaps 
was  worse,  were  looked  upon  as  indolent,  because 
no  one  thought  of  attributing  insufficiencies  of 
intellect  and  character  formation  to  bodily  defects. 
Deprecable  severity  was  employed  in  order  to 
accomplish  what,  in  fact,  could  only  be  achieved 
by  an  adaptation  of  the  method  of  instruction  and 
education  to  the  individual  nature  of  the  child. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  conception  of  the  true 
nature  of  the  productive  ability  and  the  rapidity 
of  thought  association  shown  by  highly  talented  or 
"wonder"  children,  was  often  erroneous,  for  fre- 
quently these  qualities  were  nothing  more  than  a 
manifestation  of  abnormally  excited  nerve  ac- 
tivity.* Our  increasing  insight  into  the  depend- 
ence of  mental  functions  upon  the  composition  of 
the  nervous  system  made  such  erroneous  views 
untenable,  and  forced  a  consideration  of  the  child's 
individuality  from  a  psychic  point  of  view  as  well 

*  In  connection  -with  this  we  may  well  call  to  mind  such  geniuses 
as  Lenau  the  poet,  and  Nietzsche  the  philosopher,  both  of  whose 
days  were  prematurely  shortened  through  insanity,  and  compare 
them  with  other  renowned  men  like  Newton,  Froebel,  and  Liebig, 
who  as  children  were  considered  indolent  and  incapable,  and 
developed  slowly,  but  who  retained  their  mental  vigor  into  old  age. 


6  INTRODUCTION 

as  from  a  physical  one.  Not  for  a  moment  would 
we  deny  the  existence  of  intellectual  and  moral 
defects  which  can  not  be  influenced  by  any  amount 
of  individualization,  which,  in  other  words,  are 
incorrigible:  nor  would  we  maintain  that  all  ab- 
normalities of  mental  life,  whether  indicated  by  an 
augmented  or  by  a  diminished  activity  of  thought, 
emotion  and  will,  are  inevitably  founded  upon 
corresponding  bodily  states,  and  thereby  explained 
or  excused.  Such  assertions  would  far  overstep 
the  line  of  actual  fact,  and  could  not  be  supported. 
But  it  can  be  proved  by  convincing  evidence  that 
many  of  the  failures  of  pedagogy  could  be  avoided, 
many  a  child  considered  uneducable  could  be 
trained  to  become  a  useful  member  of  society,  if 
those  who  have  control  of  its  education  and  train- 
ing, at  home  and  in  school,  the  parents  and  teachers, 
would  earnestly  endeavor  to  find  the  key  to  the 
individuality  of  their  ward.  Not  an  imitation  of 
a  pattern  but  an  individualization,  not  forced 
adaptation  of  children  to  a  plan  of  instruction  and 
education  constructed  for  entirely  different  con- 
ditions, but,  on  the  contrary,  accommodation  of 
the  plan  to  the  actual  existing  needs  of  the  pupils — ■ 
this  must  be  the  aim  of  all  rational  pedagogy. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

Following  a  long-recognized  truth,  pedagogy  has 
given  up  that  unpromising  and,  in  the  interest  of 
general  culture,  undesirable  effort  which  seeks 
through  an  obstinate  adherence  to  ancient  trans- 
mitted dogmas  and  methods  to  produce  a  race  of 
beings  all  alike  in  mind  and  character.  Pedagogy- 
no  longer  desires  to  achieve  only  similar  results 
with  uniform  methods,  but  to-day  recognizes  its 
task  to  be  the  attainment  of  the  greatest  possible 
harmony  of  development  of  each  single  being  in 
accordance  with  his  qualifications.  But  what  has 
not  received  the  attention  w^hich  its  importance 
merits,  neither  from  the  professional  pedagog,  nor, 
of  course,  from  the  general  public,  is  the  fact  which 
we  have  already  often  exprest,  and  which  will  wend 
its  way  uninterruptedly  through  the  entire  subject 
matter  of  this  treatise,  that  mental  qualifications 
are  bound  up  with  the  organs  and  conditions  of 
the  body,  change  with  them,  and  consequently  may 
increase  or  diminish,  and  that,  therefore,  indi- 
vidualization can  be  carried  out  effectively  only 
when  the  physical  make-up  of  the  child  is  con- 
sidered in  all  its  aspects.  But  if  slowness  of 
growth  is  regarded  as  a  favorable  augury  for 
stability  of  development,  then,  undoubtedly,  the 


8  INTRODUCTION 

principle  of  individualization  will,  just  as  it  has 
done  in  medicine  and  jurisprudence,  act  transform- 
atively  in  pedagogy  and  bring  about  that  reform 
which  long  has  been  recognized  as  necessary. 

We  must  at  least  hope  that  more  just  consider- 
ation will  be  given  to  children  whose  individuality 
makes  them  refractory  to  medico-pedagogic  treat- 
ment, and  that  they  will  be  accorded  the  sympathy 
so  freely  given  to  all  other  unfortunates. 

Recent  medico-pedagogic  experiences  have  taught 
us  to  be  conservative  in  our  judgment  of  mentally 
backward,  psychopathically  inferior,  children. 
How  often  do  we  learn,  after  the  key  to  the  indi- 
viduality of  mentally  backward  children  has  been 
found,  that  what  was  supposed  to  be  feeble- 
mindedness or  indolence  was  the  consequence, 
solely,  of  bodily  defects,  obstructed  nose-breathing, 
faulty  hearing,  etc.  At  any  rate,  before  arriving 
at  a  final  decision  regarding  incorrigibility  of 
mind  or  character,  and  discontinuing  further  at- 
tempts at  education  and  training  as  fruitless, 
nothing  should  be  left  undone  to  bring  to  light 
bodily  abnormalities  and  functional  disturbances 
which  might  stimulate  an  apparent,  yet  non-exist- 
ing mental  weakness.     If  the  removal  of  a  simple 


INTRODUCTION  9 

nasal  obstruction  or  the  administration  of  prepara- 
tions of  thyroid  gland  can  bring  about  a  recru- 
descence of  mental  alertness,  why  should  not  the 
earnest  cooperation  of  medicine  and  pedagogy  dis- 
close manifold  other  possibilities  of  protecting 
healthy  children  against  injurious  influences,  and 
of  raising  psychopathic  inferiors  to  a  higher  plane 
of  potential  activity. 

In  the  course  of  our  treatise  we  will  become 
acquainted,  among  those  atypical  children  who  do 
not  fit  into  the  normal  mold  and  who  require 
especial  training  and  care,  with  a  number  of 
gradations  varying  from  the  "nervous"  child,  the 
child  disordered  in  its  development  through 
erroneous  training,  the  child  only  apparently  lack- 
ing in  mental  endowment — all  of  which  are  per- 
fectly educable  by  means  of  proper  treatment  and 
pedagogic  training — to  the  animal-like  idiot  with 
whom  nothing  can  be  done. 

It  would  be  expecting  too  much  to  ask  an  im- 
mediate realization  of  our  hopes.  In  the  field  of 
medical  pedagogy,  as  in  everything  else,  human 
power  has  its  limitations,  which,  as  our  methods 
of  examination  and  treatment  become  more  and 
more  perfected,  may  be  partly  overcome  but  can 


10  INTRODUCTION 

never  be  effaced.  While  there  are  children  whose 
mental  weakness  is  only  apparent  and  who  are 
awakened  as  from  a  sleep  by  proper  treatment, 
there  are  others  for  whom  conditions  are  entirely 
different— for  instance,  the  actually  feeble-minded 
and  the  idiots.  These  are  what  they  are  in  conse- 
quence of  irreparable  defects  in  the  brain ;  certain 
parts  of  the  brain  are  not  present  or  have  been 
destroyed,  and  can,  therefore,  not  be  developed. 
The  defects  of  mind  and  character  of  true  idiots 
correspond  to  defects  in  brain  structure,  and  these 
are  as  little  amenable  to  medical  as  to  pedagogic 
treatment.  Hence  we  must  recognize  the  impossi- 
bility of  converting  imbeciles  or  idiots  into  persons 
of  normal  mental  power. 

Nevertheless,  we  shall  see  later  how,  in  such 
cases,  through  strictly  classifying  the  plan  of 
instruction  and  education  and  adapting  it  to  the 
special  requirements  of  the  children,  much  may 
still  be  accomplished,  and  how  whatever  lies  in 
them  that  is  still  capable  of  development  may  be 
brought  out.  The  Montessori  method  especially, 
which  will  demand  our  consideration  in  many 
ways  in  the  course  of  our  further  disquisition,  has 
contributed  much   toward   developing  curable,  or 


INTRODUCTION  11 

at  least  improvable,  children  up  to  the  boundary 
line  of  their  cultural  capabilities,  and  has,  by 
means  of  strict  individualization,  tended  to  prevent 
a  complete  deterioration  of  the  sparse  remnants 
of  mental  power  which  they  may  still  possess. 

The  medico-hygienic  material  which  the  pedagog 
can  not  forego  in  the  rational  exercise  of  his  pro- 
fession is  b}^  no  means,  as  might  be  assumed,  solely 
pedagogic  in  nature.  It  is  quite  true  it  deals 
chiefly  with  pathological  conditions  and  their 
therapeutic  management;  but,  as  we  have  already 
stated,  medical  pedagogy  must  not  fail  to  consider 
measures  of  prevention.  In  fact,  when  the  spirit 
underlying  it  is  properly  grasped,  it  should  deal 
not  only  with  the  prophylaxis  which  concerns  the 
children  confided  to  its  care  and  training,  but  also 
with  that  which  will  directly  influence  the  adult. 

Because  the  physiological  psychology  of  child- 
hood constitutes  the  basis  for  rational  pedagogy,  I 
have  deemed  it  essential  to  devote  a  special  chapter 
to  this  subject.  In  this  field  the  science  of  medicine 
may  also  fittingly  pass  critical  judgment  upon 
pedagogy ;  for  it  is  precisely  the  lack  of  knowledge 
of  physiologic-psychologic  laws  and  the  peculiari- 
ties of  the  human  organism  which  manifest  them- 


12  INTRODUCTION 

selves  during  its  developmental  period  that  are 
responsible  for  the  faults  and  errors  so  frequently- 
encountered  in  the  history  of  pedagogic  practise. 

Deductions  made  from  false  premises  necessarily 
will  be  incorrect.  If  the  mind  of  the  child  is  not 
correctly  understood,  practical  education  and  in- 
struction, being  built  upon  a  false  basis,  in  the 
particular  case,  can  not  be  correct.  That  is  quite 
evident.  What  is  to  be  said  of  the  physical  treat- 
ment of  the  child,  of  the  proper  diet,  the  training 
of  sensory  activity,  the  coordination  of  muscular 
movements,  the  development  of  the  attention  and 
the  powers  of  speech,  the  combating  of  bad  habits, 
the  instruction  in  all  manner  of  attainments  and 
dexterity,  the  development  of  emotional  life  and 
of  the  activity  of  the  will,  or  whatever  else  is  yet 
to  be  said  about  the  very  difficult  process  of  edu- 
cating the  mind  and  forming  the  character,  I 
have  endeavored  to  present  in  accordance  with  the 
most  modern  views  of  science.  Finally,  I  must 
remark  that  I  have  considered  it  necessary  to  pre- 
lude the  actual  subject  matter  of  my  book  by  a 
historical  survey.  An  insight  into  the  formative 
period  of  a  science,  the  presentation  of  the  labor 
which  has  been  required  for  its  development  and 


INTRODUCTION  13 

methodical  construction,  is,  in  my  opinion,  of  in- 
estimable value,  because  it  teaches  better  than  a 
mere  knowledge  of  scientific  results  how  to  dis- 
criminate between  error  and  truth. 

No  science  enters  the  horizon  as  a  ready-made 
entity.  Only  after  it  has  overcome  innumerable 
obstacles  can  it  force  recognition.  Hence  we  can 
understand  why  it  is  that  only  by  means  of  numer- 
ous errors  and  false  steps  could  pedagogy  arrive 
at  a  just  appreciation  of  the  value  of  physiologic 
psychology  or  experimental  psychology,  supported 
by  pathology,  therapy  and  hygiene.  At  the  same 
time  I  have  confined  myself  in  the  historical  survey 
to  a  consideration  of  the  significance  of  those 
factors  which  have  been  important  in  the  develop- 
ment of  medical  pedagogy.  The  purely  pedagogic 
viewpoints,  in  so  far  as  they  contain  historical  in- 
terest, require  special  consideration  of  a  kind  be- 
yond the  scope  of  this  work.  As  already  stated, 
it  was  not  my  purpose  to  write  a  book  on  the 
general  doctrine  of  education,  but  one  dealing  only 
with  those  pedagogic  reforms  which  appear  to 
be  necessary  from  the  viewpoint  of  medicine  and 
hygiene. 

From  the  foregoing  the  reason  for  dividing  the 


14  INTRODUCTION 

material   at  ray  disposal   into  the   following   four 
parts  becomes  obvious: 

First — Historical  Survey. 

Second — Psychology  of  Childhood. 

Third — Prophylactic  Training. 

Fourth — Therapeutic  Training. 


PART   FIRST 
HISTORICAL   SURVEY 

In  no  instance  did  the  older  pedagogy  show  its 
helplessness  more  than  when  confronted  by  chil- 
dren who,  in  the  expression  of  their  psychic  pro- 
cesses, deviated  in  any  way  from  the  accepted 
pattern.  This  was  so  because  pedagogy  was  at  the 
time  the  outgrowth  of  a  psychology  which  had 
arbitrarily  set  up  for  itself  a  "normal  type,"  in 
disregard  of  all  experience  and  exact  observation, 
and  had  made  the  development  of  the  intellectual 
faculties,  as  well  as  of  the  emotions  and  will,  adapt 
themselves  to  this  type.  In  so  doing,  the  fact  was 
overlooked  that  deviations  from  the  theoretical 
type,  whether  toward  a  higher  plane  or  a  lower, 
were  not  exceptional  but  constituted  the  rule.  It 
is  self-evident  that  so  long  as  pedagogy  remained 
under  the  spell  of  this  speculative  doctrine,  it  could 
make  no  decided  step  in  advance  and  could  not 
but  be  hampered  by  error  upon  error. 

Thus,  for  example,  the  causes  which  produced 
15 


16  CHILD    TRAINING 

feeble-mindedness  in  children  were  entirely  mis- 
understood. The  ancient  superstition  that  idiotic 
children,  as  well  as  the  adult  insane,  were  possest 
by  evil  spirits,  endured  into  the  eighteenth  century, 
and  exorcism — the  conjuration  and  the  supposed 
expulsion  of  the  evil  spirit  by  means  of  religious 
ceremonies — was  again  and  again  resorted  to  as 
the  only  efficacious  remedy.  Under  these  con- 
ditions it  is  not  astonishing  that  in  former  times 
no  one  seriously  thought  of  advancing  weak-minded 
children  through  training  and  instruction;  in  fact, 
the  belief  in  their  cultural  disqualification  was  so 
firm  that  nowhere  can  we  find  any  record  of  an 
attempt  at  their  training  having  been  made.  The 
simpletons  and  the  half-witted  ran  freely  about  in 
the  streets  and  public  places,  and  often  were  tar- 
gets for  the  grossest  sport.  The  feeble-minded 
were  placed  in  asylums,  not  in  order  to  protect 
them  against  harm,  but  exclusively  in  the  interest 
of  public  safety.  Not  infrequently  mentally  ab- 
normal children  were  confined  by  their  relatives 
simply  because  they  did  not  know  what  else  to  do 
with  them;  and  when,  as  was  often  the  case,  no 
special  provision  for  the  care  of  such  children 
existed,  they  were  placed   in  prison  cells,   where 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY  17 

they  were  treated  like  the  convicts  with  whom 
they  were  mingled. 

Weygandt  reports  a  case  of  an  idiotic  child 
which  is  of  interest  because  it  enables  us  to  gain  an 
insight  into  the  views  current  at  the  time  of  the 
Reformation.  When  Luther  was  in  Dessau,  he  was 
shown  a  child  that  had  its  sight  and  all  of  its 
senses  unimpaired.  It  ate  as  much  as  four 
peasants,  passed  its  excrements  under  itself,  and 
screamed  when  taken  hold  of.  It  laughed  about 
occurrences  in  the  house  which  were  disagreeable, 
and  when  everything  was  peaceful  it  cried. 
Luther,  firmly  convinced  that  so  much  evil  could 
be  caused  only  by  demoniac  possession,  said  to  the 
Ruler  of  Anhalt:  "If  I  were  prince  or  master 
here,  I  would  go  with  this  child  into  the  water" 
(meaning  into  the  Mulde,  which  flows  by  Dessau), 
"and  would  risk  committing  homicide." 

These  apparently  merciless  words  of  Luther  are 
easily  understood  when  we  consider  the  opinion  of 
the  times  in  which  he  lived.  Any  one  who  does 
not  know  that  psychic  disorders  are  dependent 
upon  physical  abnormalities,  and  must,  therefore, 
be  looked  upon  as  actual  disease,  may  easily  attri- 
bute  them   to    demoniac    influences.       So    it   was 


]8  CHILD .  TRAINING 

that  manifestly  idiotic  children  were  denied 
every  right  of  existence,  and  neglected  in  every 
possible  manner.  This  deplorable  state  of  affairs 
continued  almost  without  change  until  about  the 
commencement  of  the  nineteenth,  century,  when 
reports  came,  at  first  from  Salzburg,  then  from 
Switzerland  and  France,  that  it  was  possible  to 
cure  weak-minded  children  and  transform  them 
into  useful  beings,  no  longer  a  burden  to  society. 

In  1828,  Goggenmos,  a  teacher  in  Salzburg, 
founded  an  institution  or  training-school  for 
cretins,  which,  notwithstanding  many  successes, 
failed  seven  years  afterward  for  lack  of  municipal 
support.  Following  this  failure,  Guggenbiihl,  a 
physician,  busied  himself  with  the  redemption  of 
the  cretins  of  Switzerland,  and  for  this  purpose 
erected  an  institution  upon  the  Abendberg  near 
Interlaken,  that  soon  became  celebrated  through- 
out the  civilized  world.  Visitors  streamed  in  from 
all  sides;  as  a  result  of  what  was  shown  there, 
they  became  convinced  of  the  possibility  of  edu- 
cating the  feeble-minded,  and  they  departed  full 
of  enthusiasm  for  the  establishment  of  similar 
institutions  in  their  own  communities. 

Guggenbiihl  expected,  through   colonization    of 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY  19 

the  cretins  in  the  higher  Alpine  regions,  to  achieve 
positive  cures.  This  hope  was  based  on  experi- 
ences which  he  himself  described  in  the  following 
words:  "Since  time  immemorial  the  intelligent 
people  of  the  Canton  AVallis  have  brought  their 
children,  if  born  with  signs  of  cretinism  (which 
usually  were  at  once  recognized  by  the  mid  wives), 
up  to  the  sunny  heights  of  their  Alps,  where  man 
develops  so  gloriously,  bodily  and  mentally,  with 
the  constant  result  that  this  pure  atmosphere, 
aided  by  proper  diet  and  training,  has  brought 
about  a  complete  disappearance  of  the  affliction 
in  a  few  years,  while  the  unfortunates  whom  fate 
has  decreed  to  remain  below  sink  into  a  state  com- 
pared with  which  that  of  the  Hottentots,  Bushmen, 
Fuegians,  etc.,  is  an  enviable  one." 

Enthusiasm  for  Guggenbiihl  and  his  enterprise 
was  not  of  long  duration.  He  was  soon  reproached 
for  having  promised  more  than  he  could  achieve, 
and  the  number  of  his  friends  and  adherents 
dwindled.  In  the  year  1858  Gordon,  the  English 
Ambassador  in  Bern,  prompted  an  investigation 
by  the  Swiss  Government  which  resulted  in  a 
report  unfavorable  to  Guggenbiihl,  characterizing 
him  as  a  chai-latan.     Later  he  tried  to  justify  him- 


20  CHILD    TRAINING 

self  in  the  Zeitschrift  der  Gesellschaft  Wiener 
Aerzte,  but  without  success.  His  institution  was 
closed,  and  a  few  years  afterward  he  died  forsaken 
and  forgotten. 

The  disappointment  which  befell  the  supporters 
of  Guggenbiihl  can  be  appreciated  when  we  con- 
sider that  he  declared  feeble-mindedness  in  chil- 
dren to  be  a  curable  disorder,  but  did  not  differen- 
tiate the  various  degrees  of  educational  qualifica- 
tion which  existed  in  the  individual  cases  according 
to  the  gravity  of  the  mental  affliction.  Just  as 
strongly  as  the  belief  in  the  cultural  disqualification 
of  idiotic  children  prevailed  prior  to  the  first 
pedagogic  attempts  at  training,  so  firmly  did  the 
belief  in  the  educational  qualification  of  all  of 
them  take  root  afterward.  One  extreme  was  re- 
placed by  another.  Whether  Guggenbiihl  was 
always  wilfully  deceptive,  when  he  declared  that 
the  successful  therapeutic  results  which  he  obtained 
in  the  milder  cases  could  be  obtained  in  the  severe 
ones  by  means  of  the  same  methods,  can  not  be 
determined  to-day.  It  is  certain,  however,  as 
Heller  maintains,  that  at  present  we  no  longer 
look  upon  Guggenbiihl's  early  activities  so  opti- 
mistically, nor  upon  his  later  failures  so  depre- 


EDOUAKI)    8E(,iUlN. 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY  21 

catingly  as  was  formerly  the  ease.  In  the  begin- 
ning, at  any  rate,  he  was  governed  by  the  best 
intentions  and  believed  thoroughly  in  the  success 
of  his  method,  and  even  at  present  the  principles 
of  his  early  pedagogic  attempts  are  acknowledged 
to  be  correct. 

I  am  in  accord  with  Griesinger  when  he  says 
in  this  connection :  ' '  The  matter  was  then  thought 
to  be  very  much  less  difficult  than  it  really  was, 
and  no  enduring  advantage  was  derived  from  the 
arousal  of  exaggerated  hopes  and  expectations  and 
from  the  announcement  as  accomplished  facts  of 
cures  which,  in  reality,  were  very  doubtful." 
"What  Griesinger  has  said  regarding  Guggenbiihl 
deserves  attention  and,  as  is  shown  by  so  many 
disappointing  experiences  in  medicine  and  other 
fields  of  science,  may  well  be  applied  to  other 
reforms  and  reformers. 

In  France,  too,  the  first  remedial  pedagogic  at- 
tempts bore  the  marks  of  sensationalism. 

In  the  year  1801,  there  was  found  in  the  woods 
of  the  Aveyron,  an  extraordinary  being,  who  in 
appearance  resembled  a  man  run  wild,  and  in 
habits  and  mode  of  life  differed  but  little  from  an 
animal.     This  ** savage  of  the  Aveyron"  was  simply 


22  CHILD    TRAINING 

au  idiot  who  had  strayed  from  home  or  had  been 
purposely  abandoned  by  his  family.  Such  beings 
have  been  found  at  different  times  in  the  forests, 
and  have,  as  Kraepelin  reports,  been  described  as 
an  unusual  species  of  the  human  race  {Homo 
sapiens  ferns).  This  particular  unfortimate 
aroused  the  compassion  of  the  physician  Itard,  who 
took  him  in  charge,  and  for  six  years  occupied  him- 
self in  the  endeavor  to  train  him.  The  success  he 
obtained,  while  only  a  partial  one,  aroused  in- 
describable public  enthusiasm. 

Encouraged  by  Itard 's  success,  Ferrus  organized 
a  special  school  for  cretins  at  Bicetre  near  Paris, 
which  in  1839  was  followed  by  a  second  one  under 
Voisin's  direction.  The  work  of  Seguin,  Voisin's 
successor,  was  of  special  moment  in  connection  with 
the  development  of  remedial  pedagog5^  He  was 
the  first  to  systematize  this  branch  of  therapeutics 
and  his  views  were  published  in  his  book,  ' '  Traite- 
ment  Moral  Hygiene  et  Education  des  Idiots  et 
des  Autres  Enfants  Arrieres."  In  1848  Seguin 
emigrated  to  the  United  States,  where  for  a  time 
he  was  at  the  head  of  the  Pennsylvania  Training- 
School  and  afterward  of  the  Massachusetts  Insti- 
tution for  the  Feeble-minded,  at  Waverley.     Then 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY  23 

he  settled  in  New  York,  where  he  died  in  1880,  in 
the  midst  of  preliminary  work  for  the  foundation 
of  a  "physiological  school  for  weak-minded  and 
weak-bodied  children." 

Seguin's  life  history  in  some  way  resembles  that 
of  his  contemporary  Guggenbiihl.  Both,  notwith- 
standing their  unusual  capabilities,  were  wanting 
ill  the  perseverance  and  self-abnegation  required 
to  hold  them  to  their  aim  in  life,  purely  for  its 
own  sake  and  without  ambition  for  any  wide  recog- 
nition. Both  represented  the  dawn  of  an  epoch 
in  the  methods  of  educating  the  feeble-minded,  in- 
asmuch as  they  gave  the  impetus  for  the  foundation 
of  remedial  pedagogic  institutions  in  all  civilized 
countries.  Common  to  both,  however,  was  the 
inability  to  obtain  more  than  passing  success,  be- 
cause the  systems  of  therapeutic  pedagogy  which 
they  evolved  were  made  up  of  an  admixture  of 
truth  and  error,  of  exact  observation  and  specula- 
tive deductions.  The  truth  which  their  systems 
contained  may  be  summed  up  in  one  word  "in- 
dividualization," representing  the  principle  that 
the  feeble-minded  needed  methods  of  training  and 
instruction  and  bodily  treatment  entirely  different 
from   those  of  healthy   children.     They   erred   in 


24  CHILD    TRAINING 

not  relying  sufficiently  upon  the  facts  derived 
from  experience  and  in  not  repressing  an  exag- 
gerated enthusiasm  which  led  to  premature  general- 
ization. 

Both  Guggenbiihl  and  Seguin  allowed  them- 
selves to  he  misled,  through  single  successful  cures, 
into  expecting  all  remaining  cases  of  feeble- 
mindedness necessarily  to  yield  to  the  same  methods 
of  treatment. 

The  confusion  of  ideas  which  existed  at  that 
time  regarding  the  significance  of  feeble-minded- 
ness  must,  however,  be  noted  in  extenuation  of 
these  mistakes.  Feeble-mindedness  was  looked 
upon  as  a  failing  always  dependent  upon  the  same 
cause,  and  one  which  in  different  cases,  with  differ- 
ent symptoms,  might  vary  in  degree  but  never  in 
nature.  Hence,  it  was  supposed,  the  treatment 
of  the  different  cases  could  vary  only  in  measure 
or  extent,  but  not  in  kind.  Guggenbiihl  and 
Seguin,  however,  should  not  have  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  dominated  by  such  views,  for  their 
extensive  experience  in  therapeutic  pedagogy  must 
have  furnished  them  with  ample  opportunity  to 
observe  the  very  different  manifestations  of  idiocy 
in    its   various   forms.      It    was    this   omission    of 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY  25 

proper  observation  that  was  responsible  for  their 
subsequent  ill-success,  and  to  this  must  be  attrib- 
uted the  reaction  which  occurred  in  remedial 
pedagogy,  even  during  the  life  of  both  of  these 
men,  and  which  in  some  countries  ended  all 
endeavor  to  improve  the  condition  of  the  feeble- 
minded. In  this  connection,  however,  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  fundamental  ideas  of  these 
two  reformers,  based  as  they  were  upon  a  con- 
sideration of  the  individual  characteristics  of 
idiocy,  even  to-day  maintain  their  sway,  tho  modi- 
fied, indeed,  by  exact  clinical  observation  and  the 
more  perfected  knowledge  derived  from  differen- 
tial diagnosis,  pathological  anatomy,  and  experi- 
mental work.  Of  Seguin's  ideas  we  may  further- 
more state  that  particularly  the  methods  devised 
by  him  for  the  development  of  sensory  activity 
have  recently  been  adopted,  elaborated,  and  suc- 
cessfully employed  for  the  education  and  training 
of  normal  children  by  Dr.  Maria  Montessori. 

It  is  in  the  remedial  pedagogic  endeavors  of 
Guggenbiihl  and  Seguin  that  there  becomes  mani- 
fest the  close  relationship  between  medical  and 
pedagogic  views  which  the  older  pedagogy  failed 
to  recognize.     This  pedagogy  dealt,  as  we  know, 


26  CHILD    TRAINING 

exclusively  with  a  fictitious  normal  type,  with 
children  whose  mental  development  was  based  upon 
normal  understanding  and  upon  normal  manifesta- 
tions of  the  emotions  and  will. 

Guggenbiihl  and  Seguin  clearly  saw  that  all 
pedagogic  activity  must  depend  upon  the  develop- 
mental capability  of  the  child  mind,  and  that  the 
greater  or  smaller  remnant  of  educable  capability 
existing  in  many  idiots  was  not  accessible  to  pure 
pedagogic  methods,  but  required  for  its  develop- 
ment the  orderly  influence  of  medical  and  peda- 
gogic factors  combined.  It  was  also  clear  to  them 
that  the  psychiatric  points  of  view  which  were 
applicable  to  the  treatment  of  the  adult  insane 
could  not  be  applied  as  such  to  the  training  of  the 
juvenile  feeble-minded  or  idiotic,  and  for  this 
reason  the  proper  place  for  the  care  of  mentally 
abnormal  children  was  not  an  asylum  for  the  in- 
sane but  an  institution  organized  for  the  purpose. 
Had  Guggenbiihl  and  Seguin  not  bound  them- 
selves down  to  their  artificial  system,  without 
doubt  they  would  have  recognized  that  the  en- 
deavors of  remedial  pedagogy  could  by  no  means 
end  with  an  improvement  or  cure  of  idiocy  alone, 
but  must  aim  to  attain  the  same  results  in  those 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY  27 

nervous  states  of  childhood  which  are  characterized 
as  neurasthenic  and  hysterical. 

How  little  was  known  a  century  ago  of  the 
different  kinds  of  abnormalities  of  childhood  be- 
comes manifest  by  reading  Reil's  "Rhapsodies," 
published  in  1803,  Reil  does  not  differentiate  be- 
tween congenital  and  acquired  idiocy,  but  parallels 
cases  of  congenital  or  acquired  feeble-mindedness 
and  cases  of  dementia  produced  in  later  life  by 
injuries  to  the  skull.  For  purposes  of  treatment 
he  distinguishes  purely  dynamic  idiocy  in  which, 
he  says,  "the  constitution  of  the  organ  of  thought 
is  not  noticeably  injured  but  is  deprived  of  its 
excitability,"  and  which  seems  to  him  to  be  cur- 
able, from  incurable  idiocy  in  which  "the  organ 
of  the  mind  has  been  destroyed  or  transformed 
into  foreign  matter."  The  different  grades  of 
idiocy,  he  says,  are  of  importance  in  deciding  the 
manner  of  treatment.  For  the  treatment  of 
cretins,  whom  he  classes  as  idiots,  he  unfolds  a 
very  intelligible,  hygienic  therapeutic  plan ;  for  the 
others  he  recommends  a  large  number  of  drugs,  as 
well  as  mustard,  horseradish,  pepper,  vanilla,  the 
inhalation  of  oxygen,  warm  applications  to  the 
head,  friction  of  the  scalp,  all  kinds  of  baths  and 


28  CHILD    TRAINING 

vesicant  plasters.  More  effective,  however,  he  says, 
are  psychic  methods — above  all,  he  urges  the 
arousal  of  thoughtfulness  and  a  feeling  of  altruism 
by  means  of  rubbing,  tickling  and  douching  and 
even  by  the  implantation  of  scabies;  furthermore, 
he  advocates  alarming  the  children  by  means  of 
loud  noises,  vivid  colors,  lightning,  or  other  natural 
forces.  Finally,  also,  pedagogic  remedies,  to- 
gether with  gymnastic  exercises  and  mathematics, 
are  proposed  for  the  "culture  of  the  attention." 

Eeil  asserts  in  addition  that  the  majority  of  the 
higher-grade  idiots  may  be  trained  to  work  in  the 
home  and  in  the  field — most  of  them,  it  is  true, 
only  as  beasts  of  burden  for  harrowing  and 
plowing.  Fittingly  he  warns  against  brutal 
treatment  of  refractory  idiots.  It  hardly  seems 
necessary  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  Reil's  views 
were  not  derived  from  exact  individual  observation 
but  essentially  from  preconceived  theories. 

Once  it  had  been  realized  that  neither  Guggen- 
biihl  nor  Seguin  had  constructed  a  universal 
system  for  the  cure  of  the  feeble-minded,  remedial 
pedagogy  entered  upon  an  epoch  of  quiet,  steady 
development.  Henceforth  no  personality  occupied 
the  foreground.    Results  which  were  not  able  to 


Maria  Montessori. 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY  29 

withstand  the  wear  of  time  were  not  made  public. 
Physicians  and  pedagogs  interested  in  improving 
the  condition  of  the  feeble-minded  and  of  idiots 
endeavored  by  means  of  constant  observation  and 
physiologic  and  psychologic  experiments,  to  gain 
an  insight  into  the  criteria  which  might  serve  to 
differentiate  the  manifold  abnormalities  of  the 
child's  mental  life  and  to  construct  therefrom 
pedagogic  therapy  adapted  to  the  individuality  of 
each  single  case.  More  and  more,  consequently,  it 
became  clear  that  practise  should  not  be  derived 
from  theory,  but  that  theory  must  be  the  outcome 
of  practical  experience. 

Remedial  pedagogy  made  a  decided  step  forward 
when  Wilhelm  Wundt,  through  his  experimental 
psychological  investigations,  cast  new  light  upon 
the  development  of  the  child's  mind  under  normal 
and  pathological  conditions,  and  when  it  became 
known,  for  reasons  which  will  demand  our  atten- 
tion later  on,  that  the  condition  of  cretins  might 
be  remarkably  improved  by  means  of  the  regular 
administration  of  preparations  of  the  thyroid 
gland. 

While  these  and  similar  observations  demon- 
strated  with   constantly   increasing  clearness   the 


30  CHILD    TRAINING 

close  connection  between  uiedieine  and  pedagogy, 
a  search  for  the  explanation  of  the  moral  deterior- 
ation of  young  people  that  manifested  itself  in 
the  increase  of  crimes  committed  by  children,  dis- 
closed the  fact  that  many  of  these  delinquencies 
must  be  regarded  as  the  expression  of  abnormalities 
that  caused  partial  or  entire  irresponsibility.  If 
such  abnormalities  could  pass  unrecognized  by  the 
skilled  eye  of  the  teacher  and  educator,  if  careful 
psychiatric  observation  alone  could  disclose  them, 
then  it  should  have  been  quite  clear  that  pedagogy 
of  itself  could  not  in  all  cases  determine  what  was 
normal  and  what  was  diseased,  and  that  there 
existed  a  large  field  in  which  pedagogic  methods 
alone  could  not  lead  to  the  desired  end. 

From  the  time  when  pedagogy  and  medicine 
were  as  strangers  to  each  other,  to  that  of  the 
introduction  of  school  physicians,  many  forensic 
battles  were  necessary  in  order  to  demonstrate  that 
the  teacher  and  educator  could  not  officiate  as 
physician  any  more  than  the  latter  could  intervene 
in  purely  pedagogic  questions.  Then  it  also  be- 
came manifest  that  the  two  sciences  must  cooperate 
in  the  common  task  of  furthering  the  bodily  and 
mental  health  of  young  people,  or  removing,  so  far 


HISTORICAL  SURVEY  31 

as  was  possible,  the  disorders  which  already  existed 
and  of  training  the  children  to  become  useful 
members  of  human  society.  Only  from  the  mutual 
correlation  of  medicine  and  pedagogy  can  that 
correct  understanding  of  pedagogic-psychology, 
prophylaxis  and  therapy  ensue  which  will  be  the 
topic  of  the  following  chapters. 


PART   SECOND 

THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF 
CHILDHOOD 

I.    A  GENERAL  CONSIDERATION  OF  THE 
NERVOUS  SYSTEM  AND  ITS  FUNCTIONS 

A.  Organs  of  Mental  Activity 

A.     BRAIN  AND  SPINAL  CORD 

Normal  vital  activity  proceeds  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  various  functions  of  the  human  body 
cooperate  and  act  harmoniously,  as,  for  instance, 
do  the  gears  in  a  complicated  machine.  This  is 
brought  about  by  means  of  the  nervous  system. 
All  voluntary  and  involuntary  muscular  actions, 
the  processes  of  metabolism  and  digestion,  the 
secretion  of  glandular  products,  the  absorption  of 
fluids  from  the  stomach  and  intestines,  the  activity 
of  the  heart,  respiration,  heat  formation,  and  the 
excretion  of  the  products  of  catabolism,  are  all 
regulated  by  means  of  the  nervous  system. 

Through  the  nervous  system  all  organs  and 
physical  activities  are  combined  into  one  harmoni- 

33 


34  CHILD    TRAINING 

ous  whole.  Through  the  nerves  and  their  special 
development  into  sensory  organs,  we  receive  the 
impressions  of  the  outer  world  as  well  as  those  im- 
pressions that  originate  within  our  own  bodies. 
Finally,  also,  by  means  of  the  nerves,  all  mental 
activities,  which  essentially  are  really  nothing  but 
activities  of  the  body  in  another  form,  are  trans- 
mitted. An  understanding  of  the  nervous  system 
— what  it  consists  of,  and  how  it  influences  our 
daily  life — is,  undoubtedly,  necessary  to  all  who 
hope  to  comprehend  the  psychology  of  childhood, 
and  in  this  work  it  has  an  especial  value  of  em- 
phasizing to  the  educator  the  reason  for  many 
deviations  of  the  normal  type.  In  the  nervous  sys- 
tem we  must  differentiate  a  central  and  a  periph- 
eral position.  The  former  is  made  up  of  the 
brain  and  the  spinal  cord,  the  latter  of  the  nerves 
through  which  the  central  organs  are  connected 
with  all  other  organs  and  parts  of  the  body. 

The  structure  of  the  nervous  system  is  so  com- 
plicated that  an  understanding  of  it  is  obtainable 
only  with  difficulty  unless  we  are  aided  by  the 
use  of  models  and  anatomical  specimens.  The  brain 
lies  within  the  cavity  of  the  skull,  the  spinal  cord 
within  the  spinal  column.     In  both  organs  we  may 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  35 

distinguish,  upon  transverse  section,  a  white  and 
a  gray  substance.  In  the  gray  substance  are  found 
the  nerve  cells  which  transmit  the  psychic  processes. 
The  white  substance,  on  the  other  hand,  contains 
the  conducting  tracts  by  means  of  which  the  nerve- 
cells  are  placed  in  communication  with  the  organs 
of  the  body  and  the  outer  world.  In  the  brain  the 
gray  substance,  consisting  of  a  comparatively 
narrow  layer,  occupies  the  entire  cortex,  while  the 
white  substance  is  found  in  the  interior.  In  the 
spinal  cord  the  placement  of  gray  and  white  sub- 
stance is  just  the  reverse.  Brain  and  spinal  cord 
are  surrounded  by  a  number  of  membranes. 

The  human  brain  may  be  divided  into  three 
parts : 

1.  The  great  brain  or  cerebrum, 

2.  The  little  brain  or  cerebellum, 

3.  The  brain  stem,  made  up  of  the  pons  and 
oblongata. 

The  cerebrum  forms  the  main  mass  of  the  brain. 
The  gray  cortex  is  the  seat  of  the  intellect  and  of 
consciousness,  as  well  as  the  place  where  sensory 
impressions  and  impulses  of  the  will  originate.  In 
more  recent  times  it  has  even  been  possible  to 
determine  certain  circumscribed  territories  of  the 


36  CHILD    TRAINING 

brain  cortex  as  the  respective  centers  for  different 
psychic  processes.  For  instance,  certain  localities 
of  the  brain  are  designated  as  the  speech  center, 
others  as  the  visual  center,  and  others  as  the  motor 
centers.  Destruction  of  the  apposite  central  locali- 
ties produces  at  once  either  loss  of  the  power  of 
speech,  or  of  sight,  or  of  motion  in  the  extremity 
corresponding  to  the  part  destroyed.  The  fissure 
passing  longitudinally  from  the  front  toward  the 
back  of  the  head  divides  the  cerebum  into  a  left 
and  a  right  half.  This  division,  however,  is  not  a 
complete  one,  the  halves  being  connected  by  a 
transverse  bridge,  the  corpus  callosum.  The  exist- 
ence of  this  transverse  bridge  makes  it  possible 
for  the  two  halves  of  the  brain  to  be  in  action 
simultaneously,  as  well  as  for  one  half  to  substitute 
for  the  other  in  case  of  disease  or  partial  destruc- 
tion. The  surface  of  the  brain  is  characterized  by 
numerous  fissures  among  which  longitudinal  ridges 
the  brain  convolutions  take  their  course. 

The  cerebellum  also  consists  of  the  two  parts 
which,  however,  are  not  so  distinctly  divided.  The 
fissures  and  convolutions  upon  the  surface  of  the 
cerebellum  have  a  more  horizontal  appearance. 
The   cerebellum   is  the  seat  of   those   nerve   cells 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  37 

which  exert  an  influence  upon  the  execution  of 
complicated  movements. 

The  brain  stem  forms,  so  to  speak,  a  transition 
between  the  cerebrum  and  cerebellum  jointly,  and 
the  spinal  cord.  The  upper  division  of  the  spinal 
cord  (which  is,  in  fact,  the  lowest  division  of  the 
brain  stem  and  lies  within  the  skull)  is  called  the 
medulla  oblongata.  This  part  contains  the  center 
for  all  respiratory  movements. 

The  spinal  cord  is  a  cylindrical  formation  extend- 
ing downward  from  the  brain  until,  in  the  lumbar 
region,  it  branches  into  a  number  of  nerve  strands. 
The  white  substance  on  the  outer  surface  of  the 
cord  contains  those  nerve  fibers  which  start  in  the 
cerebrum  and  cerebellum  and  pass  through  the 
brain  stem  downward  through  the  spinal  cord. 
The  gray  substance  in  the  interior  of  the  cord 
contains  the  nerve  cells  for  the  so-called  reflex 
movements,  i.e.,  those  movements  which  are  brought 
about  without  the  influence  of  the  will  when  any 
stimulus  acts  upon  a  part  of  the  body.  Thus,  for 
instance,  when  light  strikes  the  open  eye  the  iris 
contracts,  so  that  the  pupil  becomes  smaller  with- 
out the  person  being  able  to  prevent  it.  If  the 
arm  of  a  sleeping  person  is  pinched,  there  occurs 

■jL  <;>  ■a   \J  :-•«< 


38  C'liiLU    TRAININa 

uuconsciously  and  involuntarily,  a  jerk  through 
which  the  sleeper  endeavors  to  withdraw  his  arm 
or  to  ward  off  the  annoyance.  When  the  cornea 
is  touched  the  eye  closes ;  when  the  patellar  tendon 
is  struck,  the  leg  jerks  up.  All  these  and  other 
reflex  movements  differ  from  automatic  movements 
in  that  they  are  produced  only  by  certain  stimuli. 
The  cardiac  function,  respiratory  function,  diges- 
tive function,  etc.,  also  take  their  courses  without 
the  influence  of  the  will  or  consciousness.  In  such 
purely  automatic  movements  as  those  just  men- 
tioned no  special  stimulus,  however,  need  be 
present,  as  is  the  case  in  the  production  of  reflex 
movements. 

I  have  spoken  of  nerve  cells  and  nerve  fibers, 
and  must  describe  these  somewhat  more  explicitly. 
The  ganglion  cells  must  be  looked  upon  as  the  chief 
constituents  of  nerve  tissue.  These  are  inter- 
connected with  each  other,  as  well  as  with  the 
organs  of  the  body,  by  means  of  delicate  fibers 
which  serve  for  conduction,  and  are  designated 
"nerve  fibers."  The  nerve  or  ganglion  cells  exist 
in  large  numbers,  chiefly  in  the  brain  and  the 
spinal  cord.  They  form  comparatively  large  cells 
with  a  noticeable  bubble-like  nucleus.     In  form  the 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  39 

cells  vary,  but  they  usually  show  a  stellate  appear- 
ance, having  a  larger  or  smaller  number  of  pro- 
jections.      Each  projection  passes  into  a  delicate 
fiber-like  process,  which  either  serves  to  place  the 
individual    nerve    cells    in    communication    with 
others,  or  traverses  the  body,  finally  to  end  in  a 
specific  organ.     The  extensions  or  processes  of  the 
ganglion  cells,  which  connect  the  cells  with    one 
another,  branch  tree-like  and  for  this  reason  are 
called  dendrites,  while  the  other  nerve  fibers  are 
designated  neurites.     But,  in  turn,  the  neurites,  or 
longer  strands  of  fibers  which  take  their  course 
without  lateral  branching,  divide  up  at  their  ends 
into  many  smaller  fibers  which  enter  into  relation 
with  those  of  the  dendrites.     Each  nerve  or  gang- 
lion cell,  together  with  its  dendrites  and  neurites, 
forms  a  complete,  independent  nerve  unit  which 
is  called  a  neuron. 

The  gray  substance  of  the  brain  and  spinal  cord 
consists,  in  the  main,  of  ganglion  cells  and  the 
thick  network  produced  by  the  branching  of  their 
dendrites.  On  the  other  hand,  the  white  substance 
is  formed  chiefly  by  the  neurites.  It  is  assumed 
that  the  dendrites  conduct  stimuli  from  outward 
to  the  nerve  cells,  while  the  neurites,  on  the  other 


40  CHILD    TRAINING 

hand,  conduct  stimuli  which  have  arisen  within  the 
ganglion  cells  toward  the  periphery,  transmitting 
them  to  other  neurons  which,  in  turn,  stimulate 
the  muscles  or  glands  to  action.  At  any  rate,  the 
nerve  cells  are  elements  in  which  all  those  manifold 
processes  that  are  designated  as  mental  activity 
take  their  course.  Conception  and  thought  asso- 
ciation, perception  and  will,  take  their  origin  in 
these  cells  alone,  and  are  dependent  upon  their 
existence.  Without  ganglion  cells  there  can  be  no 
mental  activity.  When  a  part  of  these  cells  be- 
comes diseased  or  destroyed,  those  psychic  func- 
tions which  have  been  bound  up  with  these  cells 
cease.  If,  then,  we  seek  the  source  of  mental 
activities,  we  must  look  to  the  same  organs  to 
regulate  the  activities  of  the  body.  Special  laws 
governing  the  mind  and  differing  from  those  which 
govern  the  body  do  not  exist.  The  relationship  of 
human  functions  is  so  intimate  that  an  apparently 
distant  bodily  disorder — for  instance,  disease  of  the 
thyroid  gland — may  carry  a  psychic  disorder  in 
its  train. 

The  orderly  course  of  mental  life  is  dependent 
upon  the  brain  and  the  nervous  system.  These, 
however,  can  functionate  in  an  orderly  way  only 


ORGAJ^S  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  41 

if  the  organs  of  circulation,  of  respiration,  of 
digestion,  of  excretion,  etc.,  are  normally  active. 
This,  in  turn,  is  also  possible  only  if  the  regulating 
nerves  functionate  properly.  Hence  it  becomes 
clear  that  the  bodily  and  mental  activities  supple- 
ment one  another,  and  neither  can  exist  inde- 
pendently. 

B.     THE  PERIPHERAL  NERVES 

Ganglion  cells  are  found  not  only  in  the  central 
organs,  where  they  are  interconnected  by  means 
of  the  dendrites,  but  also  in  the  sensory  organs. 
"When  the  skin  is  touched,  the  eye  reached  by  a 
wave  of  light,  or  the  ear  by  a  tone  wave,  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  tongue  excited  by  a  cer- 
tain taste,  or  that  of  the  nose  by  a  certain  odor,  the 
dendrites  receive  these  various  stimuli  coming  from 
the  outside  and  conduct  them  to  the  nerve  cells  of 
the  sensory  organs,  whence,  by  means  of  the  con- 
necting fibeirs,  they  are  then  conducted  to  the 
ganglion  cells  of  the  brain.  There,  through  the 
association  fibers,  which  connect  the  nerve  fibers  of 
the  brain  and  the  spinal  cord,  impulses  of  the  will 
arise,  and  these  are  transmitted  by  means  of  the 
nerve  fibers  to  the  muscles  and  glands,  and  trans- 
formed into  action. 


42  CHILD    TRAINING 

Consequently  we  must  distinguish  two  sets  of 
nerve  fibers,  one  which  conducts  external  stimuli  or 
sensory  excitations  to  the  brain,  where  they  become 
conscious  sensory  perceptions  or  ideas,  and  another 
which  conducts  impulses  of  the  will  through  the 
brain  to  the  muscles  and  glands.  Those  nerve 
fibers  that  lead  from  the  periphery  of  the  body  to 
the  center — that  is,  the  brain  and  spinal  cord — 
are  called  sensory  nerves,  while  those  which  con- 
duet  from  the  center  to  the  periphery  are  known 
as  motor  nerves.  The  sensory  nerves  are  unable 
to  transmit  motion,  the  special  fibers  of  the  visual 
organ  can  not  transmit  auditory  impressions,  those 
of  the  organ  of  hearing  can  transmit  no  impressions 
of  light,  etc.  On  the  other  hand,  the  motor  nerves 
can  not  transmit  sensory  impressions.  The  nerve 
fibers  and  the  nerve  cells  that  belong  to  them 
react  only  in  their  proper  specific  manner.  Psychic 
processes,  therefore,  consist,  in  the  main,  in  the 
transmission  to  the  brain  through  the  sensory 
nerve  fibers  and  nerve  cells  of  sensory  impressions 
which  combine  with  previously  existing  ones. 
Through  comparison  of  their  similarities  and  diver- 
sities there  are  formed,  little  by  little,  distinct 
concepts  which  are  transmitted  through  association 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  43 

fibers  to  the  motor  ganglion  cells  and  nerve  fibers, 
eliciting  such  movements  as  may  be  a  necessary 
and  appropriate  response  to  the  stimuli  coming 
from  the  outer  world.  In  other  cases,  however,  the 
sensory  impressions  are  directly  transferred  to  the 
motor  nerve,  eliciting  corresponding  movements 
without  any  special  stimulus  of  the  will,  as,  for  in- 
stance, when  an  odor  of  a  palatable  dish  produces 
a  flow  of  saliva.  The  concept  of  the  palatable  dish 
acts  upon  the  brain  as  a  stimulus,  which,  notwith- 
standing any  influence  of  the  association  fi.bers,  is 
transmitted  through  certain  nerve  fibers  to  the 
salivary  glands  and  incites  their  cells  to  an  in- 
creased secretion.  Again,  in  the  case  of  an  injury, 
the  sensation  of  pain  does  not  arise  at  the  seat  of 
the  injury  but  in  the  brain,  just  as  sensations  of 
sound  do  not  arise  in  the  ear  or  sensations  of  light 
and  color  in  the  eye,  but  in  the  corresponding  brain 
centers.  The  sensory  nerves  transmit  the  stimulus 
accompanying  the  injury  to  the  brain,  where  not 
only  the  sensation  of  pain  but  also  the  concept  of 
the  seat  of  injury  is  aroused.  The  concept,  un- 
influenced by  the  association  fibers,  immediately 
produces  the  proper  protective  movement.  An- 
other case  to  be  considered  in  the  same  connection 


44  CHILD    TRAINING 

is  that  of  a  person  who  becomes  markedly  excited; 
indirectly  by  way  of  the  brain  the  excitement  sets 
tlie  motor  nerves  of  the  blood-vessels  into  action, 
causing  them  to  contract,  and  produce  a  pallor  of 
the  skin. 

The  nerve  fibers  are  of  cylindrical  form.  They 
originate,  as  already  stated,  from  the  extensions 
or  processes  of  the  ganglion  cells,  then  take  their 
course  through  the  brain  and  spinal  cord,  and, 
passing  out  of  these  central  organs,  combine  with 
other  fibers  of  the  same  kind  into  thicker  or 
thinner  strands,  which  traverse  the  body  and  finally 
terminate  in  the  organ  to  which  they  are  destined. 
They  therefore  constitute  an  uninterrupted  means 
of  communication  between  their  seat  of  origin  and 
these  organs.  A  trite  but  applicable  comparison  is 
that  between  nerve  fibers  and  the  wires  of  a  tele- 
graph system,  the  brain  and  spinal  cord  being 
likened  to  the  central  station  and  the  nerve  fibers 
to  the  conducting  wires  which  transmit  messages 
to  the  main  station,  and  thence  transmit  orders  to 
other  subsidiary  stations. 

At  the  point  of  their  exit  from  the  brain  or 
spinal  cord,  the  nerve  fibers  are  combined  into  fine 
or  coarse  strands  which  pass  out  through  the  fora- 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  45 

mina  at  the  base  of  the  skull  and  iu  the  spinal 
column  and  then,  distributing  themselves  in  all 
directions,  become  more  and  more  attenuated  until 
finally  they  are  no  longer  visible  to  the  naked  eye. 
The  nerve  fibers  which  serve  as  conductors  for 
sensory^  impressions  have  their  terminal  apparatus 
respectively  in  the  tactile  bodies  of  the  skin,  in 
the  retina  of  the  eye,  in  the  labyrinth  of  the  ear, 
in  the  gustatory  papillje  of  the  tongue,  and  in  the 
olfactory  cells  of  the  upper  nasal  passages.  The 
nerve  fibers  which  conduct  the  motor  impulses  end 
in  the  muscles,  glands  and  blood-vessels — and  here 
by  the  term  muscles  must  be  understood  not  only 
those  fleshy  organs  whose  contraction  causes  move- 
ments of  the  extremities,  but  also  those  that  bring 
about  the  movement  of  the  heart,  the  stomach,  the 
intestines,  etc. 

The  nerves  are  called  peripheral  only  in  so  far 
as  they  lie  outside  of  the  central  organs.  As  we 
have  already  stated,  a  large  number  of  ganglion 
cells  within  the  brain  and  the  spinal  cord  are 
connected  with  one  another  by  means  of  nerve 
fibers.  These  nerve  fibers  are  counted  among  the 
central  nerves.  All  nerve  fibers  which  take  their 
course  outside  of  the  brain  and  spinal  cord,  to- 


46  CHILD    TRAINING 

gether  with  their  nerve  cells,  are  called  peripheral 
nerves,  irrespective  of  whether  they  are  sensory 
or  motor — that  is,  whether  they  convey  sensory 
impressions  to  the  brain,  or  whether,  on  the 
contrary,  they  convey  motor  impulses  from  the 
brain  to  the  muscles  and  glands.  It  will  not  be 
superfluous  to  mention  here  that  the  sensory  nerve 
tracts  are  far  more  complicated  than  the  motor 
ones.  The  latter  have  no  intermediary  stations; 
on  the  other  hand,  various  neurons  are  always 
interposed  between  the  neurite  which  originates 
from  a  peripheral  ganglion  cell  and  the  central 
neuron  belonging  to  it  in  the  brain  cortex. 

Let  us  recall  at  this  point  that  the  motor  nerves 
can  conduct  motion  alone  but  no  sensations,  the 
sensory  nerves  only  sensation  but  no  motion. 
Similarly  the  individual  organs  of  special  sense 
can  conduct  only  their  corresponding  sensory 
impressions  and  nothing  else.  This  specific  prop- 
erty of  the  peripheral  nerves  goes  so  far  that 
motor  nerves  may  be  eomprest,  bruised  or  burned 
without  producing  the  slightest  sensation  of  pain, 
unless  by  chance  some  contiguous  sensory  nerve 
be  injured  at  the  same  time.  Likewise,  for 
example,  the  optic  nerve  may  be  cut  and  ehemi- 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  47 

cally  or  electrically  irritated,  without  producing 
any  effect  other  than  a  perception  of  light.  Every 
nerve  fiber,  in  fact,  is  capable  of  conducting  only 
that  stimulus  which  corresponds  to  its  special 
function.  The  "sympathetic"  nervous  system, 
long  looked  upon  as  a  special  or  third  nervous 
system,  really  is  a  part  of  the  rest  of  the  nervous 
system,  and  not  in  any  way  an  independent 
mechanism.  It  is  made  up  very  largely  of  nerves 
originating  in  the  cerebro-spinal  centers  and  con- 
stitutes an  arrangement  of  true  spinal  nerves, 
connected  with  a  series  of  ganglia  through  which 
they  sometimes  pass.  On  each  side  of  the  ventral 
surface  of  the  spinal  column  passing  from  the 
skull  to  the  sacrum  is  a  chain  of  such  ganglia 
united  by  a  longitudinal  cord.  This  strand  is 
connected,  by  means  of  its  nerve  fibers,  not  only 
with  the  brain  and  spinal  cord,  but  with  the 
neighboring  arteries,  and,  together  with  the 
branches  of  these  arteries,  reaches  practically  all 
organs  of  the  body. 

The  province  of  the  sympathetic  nerve  is  to 
supply  with  its  branches  the  so-called  smooth 
musculature,  which  brings  about  the  involuntary 
(automatic)    movements.     As  I  have   already  in- 


48  CHILD    TRAINING 

dicated,  muscular  movements  are  in  part  subject 
to  the  will,  but  in  part,  also,  they  take  effect 
independently  of  the  consciousness  or  will.  We 
can  voluntarily  move  only  those  organs  and  parts 
of  the  body  which  possess  striated  muscles,  as,  for 
instance,  the  arms,  the  legs,  the  tongue,  etc.  On 
the  other  hand,  such  movements  as  that  of  the 
heart,  of  the  thorax,  of  the  digestive  organs,  etc., 
all  of  which  are  effected  by  means  of  the  smooth 
musculature,  are  for  the  most  part  removed  from 
the  influence  of  the  will.  We  are  able  to  in- 
fluence them  only  in  a  limited  degree.  A  person, 
for  instance,  can  hold  his  breath  for  a  short  time 
but  can  not  suppress  it  long.  We  are  unable  to 
prevent  the  undulatory  movements  of  the  stomach 
and  intestines  by  means  of  which  our  food  is 
drawn  downward.  It  is  as  a  result  of  contraction 
of  the  smooth  muscles  fibers  of  the  blood-vessels 
that,  under  marked  emotional  excitement,  we  grow 
pale  against  our  will.  All  this  and  much  more 
that  is  dependent  upon  contraction  of  the  smooth 
musculature  is  effected  by  the  sympathetic  nerve 
without  any  active  cooperation  on  our  part. 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  49 

C.     PSYCHIC    FUNCTIONS 

Mental  activity  is  made  up  in  the  main  of 
sensory  impressions  and  the  responses  which 
follow  them.  The  brain  responds  by  forming 
concepts  from  the  sensory  impressions  and  in- 
citing corresponding  functions.  For  instance,  the 
brain,  perceiving  that  an  object  has  fallen  to 
the  ground  or  that  a  musical  instrument  is  out 
of  tune,  will  set  into  action  those  activities  which 
will  restore  the  object  to  its  place  or  will  attune 
the  musical  instrument.  In  order,  however,  that 
the  proper  functions  be  brought  into  play 
through  the  sensory  perceptions,  it  is  necessary 
above  all  that  the  impressions  of  the  outer  world 
which  are  transmitted  to  the  brain  be  correct. 
Perception  and  the  response  which  follows, 
whether  correct  or  false,  are  always  the  result  of 
reciprocal  action  in  the  central  organs.  The 
more  numerous  and  the  more  varied  the  impres- 
sions received,  the  more  will  the  judgment  based 
thereon  be  likely  to  represent  a  correct  compre- 
hension of  what  actually  has  taken  place. 
Through  the  fulness  of  such  judgment,  based 
upon  sensory  impressions,  the  individual  becomes 
more    and    more    capable    of    differentiating    the 


50  CHILD    TRAINING 

objects  of  the  outer  world  and  of  recognizing 
himself  as  a  special  being,  separate  from  its 
surroundings.  All  this  is  only  possible,  however, 
if  the  sensory  impressions  remain  fixt  in  the 
brain  cells  so  they  may  at  any  time  be  reproduced. 
This  faculty  we  call  memory  or  the  power  of 
recollection.  Where  memory  is  not  present  or 
is  inadequate,  where  the  brain  cells  do  not  retain 
the  sensory  impression  after  the  stimulus  which 
has  produced  it  has  passed  away,  there  the  neces- 
sary basis  for  the  formation  of  judgment,  for  the 
comparison  of  sensory  impressions,  both  as  to 
their  similarities  and  their  differences,  is  wanting. 
This  formation  of  judgment  is  possible  only  upon 
a  basis  of  numerous  and  distinct  ideas.  The  more 
the  sensory  impressions  correspond  to  actuality, 
the  more  numerous,  the  more  varied,  and  the 
more  distinct  will  be  the  concepts  of  the  outer 
world  obtained  through  them,  and  the  greater  the 
contrast  between  one's  self  and  the  things  of  one's 
surroundings,  the  more  will  the  individual  be  placed 
in  a  position  to  form  a  correct  judgment. 

As  we  have  learned,  each  of  the  nerves  reacts 
only  in  its  own  particular  manner.  The  same 
stimulus — a  strong  pressure,  let  us  say — produces 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  51 

in  the  optic  nerve  only  a  sensation  of  light  or 
color,  in  the  auditory  nerve  only  a  sensation  of 
sound,  in  the  tactile  nerves  only  a  sensation  of 
pain,  in  the  motor  nerves  only  a  contraction  of 
the  muscles.  We  can  crush  the  optic  nerve,  burn 
it,  stimulate  it  electrically  or  in  any  other 
manner,  and  yet  the  result  will  always  be  a  per- 
ception of  light;  or  if  the  same  experiment  be 
made  upon  the  olfactory  nerve,  the  result  will 
always  be  a  sensation  of  smell;  if  upon  the  tactile 
nerves,  always  a  sensation  of  pain,  etc.  There- 
fore, since  a  stimulus  in  the  course  of  the  con- 
ducting nerves  can  not  pass  over  from  one  tract 
to  another,  it  must  be  clear  that  this  provision 
exists  so  that  the  brain  will  always  receive  correct 
sensory  impressions.  In  order  to  investigate  the 
specific  properties  of  nerves,  it  has  been  proposed 
to  sever  the  optic  and  the  auditory  nerves  and  to 
connect  the  central  end  of  the  one  with  the  peri- 
pheral end  of  the  other.  After  the  union  of  the 
two  one  might  see  whether  stimulation  of  such  a 
sensory  conducting  path,  composed  of  nerves  of 
two  different  specific  properties,  would  produce  a 
perception  of  light  or  a  perception  of  sound,  or 
both,  in  the  brain.     In  view  of  the  impracticability 


52  CHILD    TRAINING 

of  the  experiment,  this  question  can  not  be  an- 
swered. There  can  be  no  question,  however,  that 
normal  sensory  organs  always  conduct  normal 
impressions  to  the  brain. 

Affections  of  the  peripheral  nerves  and  of  the 
central  organs,  as  a  rule,  are  associated  with  more 
or  less  marked  sense  deceptions.  That  the  con- 
cepts and  judgment  built  upon  such  a  basis  must 
be  false  is  a  matter  of  course.  Frequently  such 
sense  deceptions  give  rise  to  most  calamitous 
actions,  murders,  suicides,  etc.  Of  this  we  shall 
hear  more  later.  At  this  place  I  would  merely 
have  it  understood  that  sense  deceptions  do  occur 
even  under  normal  conditions.  Thus,  for  instance, 
a  black  square  placed  upon  a  white  background 
w^ill  appear  smaller  than  a  white  square  of  equal 
size  upon  a  black  background.  A  rod  partly 
immersed  in  water  will  appear  broken.  Parallel 
lines  crossed  by  diagonal  ones  appear  to  diverge 
or  to  converge.  If  we  cross  the  middle  and  index 
fingers  of  one  hand  and  roll  a  pea  or  any  other 
small  globular  object  between  their  tips,  the  im- 
pression produced  is  that  two  such  objects  are 
held  between  the  fingers.  Many  other  examples 
of  sense  deceptions  could  be   adduced. 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  53 

It  will  be  easy  for  any  one  to  satisfy  himself 
from  his  own  experience  that  the  majority  of 
people  may  be  subject  to  sense  deceptions,  that 
they  see  things  differently  from  what  they  actually 
are,  interpret  noises  incorrectly,  allow  themselves 
to  be  misled  through  the  feeling  of  an  object 
which  they  are  unable  to  see,  etc.  These  sense 
deceptions  are  so  frequent  that  they  may  be 
designated  as  physiological.  They  occur  particu- 
larly when,  in  consequence  of  excitement,  fear, 
etc.,  calm  observation  is  prevented,  or  when  a 
certain  sense  impression  can  not  be  supplemented 
and  controlled  by  other  impressions,  as,  for  in- 
stance, in  the  experiment  with  the  pea,  if  the 
eyes  are  covered,  so  that  vision  be  excluded. 

Between  the  normal  (physiological)  and  the 
pathological  sense  perceptions  there  exists  a 
material  difference,  in  that  the  latter  are  net 
susceptible  of  correction.  It  is  easy  to  show  a 
normal  person  that  he  has  been  in  error  but 
not  so  a  person  who  is  mentally  disordered.  For 
this  reason  the  sense  deceptions  of  healthy  per- 
sons, particularly  if  soon  corrected,  as  a  rule 
entail  no  evil  results.  Nevertheless,  it  is  not  un- 
usual to  confound  one  person  with  another  in  the 


54  CHILD    TRAINING 

dark.  "We  have  heard  of  persons  returning  home 
late  and  being  attacked  as  unknown  intruders  by 
their  relatives.  This  is  exactly  what  should  have 
happened  had  the  premises  been  correct.  In  such 
cases,  when  the  brain  unleashes  the  appropriate 
protective  movements  and  actions,  it  functionates 
properly.  But  in  the  example  given,  the  prem- 
ises were  false  and  the  resulting  mishap  was 
startling  proof  of  the  fact  that  the  sensory  per- 
ceptions, even  of  healthy  individuals,  are  not 
unrestrictedly  reliable. 

The  reason  why  physiological  sense  deceptions 
usually  remain  without  ill-effect  is  because  in  the 
formation  of  concepts  and  judgments  the  com- 
plicated brain  mechanism  does  not  make  use  of 
individual  percepts  but  joins  these  together  by 
means  of  the  association  fibers  of  the  brain  gan- 
glia, whose  activity  may  be  temporarily  inter- 
rupted ;  when,  however,  the  momentary  excitement 
which  has  made  the  sense  deception  possible  has 
passed  away,  that  brain  function  which  we  call 
attention  immediately  reassumes  control.  By 
** attention"  we  understand,  as  I  have  explained 
in  my  book  on  "Suggestion  and  Psychotherapy," 
the  power  of  thought  concentration  by  means  of 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  55 

which  we  are  enabled  for  long  periods  of  time 
to  direct  the  sensory  apparatus  and  the  con- 
ceptual contents  in  a  certain  direction,  without 
allowing  ourselves  to  become  confused  or  to 
deviate  from  things  which  are  material  to  those 
which  are  immaterial.  The  acme  of  mental 
action  is  represented  by  apperception — that  is, 
the  clear  conception  of  ideas  carried  to  our  con- 
sciousness by  sensory  impressions  combined  with 
sensory  judgments  and  conclusions. 

Here  we  must  emphasize  the  fact  that  we  know 
nothing  of  the  manner  or  method  by  which  sen- 
sory impressions  become  transformed  into  con- 
scious perceptions.  The  mechanism  of  thought 
differs  from  that  of  the  most  complex  and  most 
perfect  machine  in  this  feature — no  matter  how 
well  the  latter  may  operate  and  fulfil  the  most 
complicated  functions,  it  never  possesses  any  con- 
sciousness of  its  own  activities.  For  the  time 
being  we  must  content  ourselves  with  accepting 
this  self-consciousness  of  mental  action  as  a  fact 
proved  by  experience. 

To  how  great  an  extent  mental  processes  are 
dependent  on  the  conditions  of  bodily  organs  is 
strikingly  shown  by  a  fatigued  brain.     It  is  in 


56  CHILD    TRAINING 

direct  proportion  to  the  increase  in  the  degree 
of  fatigue  that  the  brain  loses  the  capability  of 
recognizing  clearly  perceptions  produced  by  sen- 
sory impressions.  Attention,  without  which  per- 
ception is  impossible,  wanes  with  an  increase  in 
the  degree  of  brain  fatigue.  This  fatigue  may 
be  measured  in  a  simple  manner  by  aid  of  peri- 
metry or  the  test  of  the  visual  field.  By  peri- 
metry, for  instance,  we  can  easily  demonstrate  in 
children  that  at  the  end  of  a  lesson  which  has 
fatigued  them,  when  they  are  unable  longer  to 
put  forth  as  much  attention  as  they  did  at  the 
beginning,  the  field  of  vision  has  become  restricted 
in  a  marked  degree.  The  intimate  relationship 
between  mental  action  and  the  nervous  apparatus, 
therefore,  has  once  more  been  clearly  demon- 
strated by  the  dependence  of  attention  and  apper- 
ceptional  capability  upon  the  intensity  of  sensory 
impressions. 

The  following  incident  well  exemplifies  the 
strange  working  of  attention.  Two  telegraphers 
were  occupied  at  their  respective  apparatus,  one 
receiving  and  the  other  sending  dispatches.  Both 
were  experts  in  their  work.  The  operator  at  the 
sending   apparatus,    in    the    sounds   coming    from 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  57 

the  receiving  apparatus  alongside,  recognized  a 
familiar  name,  and,  curious  to  know  more,  called 
to    the    receiving   operator   who    had    transcribed 

the  message,  "What  has  Jennie  N been  doing 

now?"  To  his  astonishment  his  absent-minded 
colleague  replied,  "I  do  not  know,  I  was  not  pay- 
ing attention,"  and  kept  right  on  receiving  and 
transcribing.  This  operator  had  been  receiving 
messages  faultlessly,  transcribing  them  correctly 
word  for  word,  had  answered  the  question  of  his 
friend  without  stopping  his  work,  and,  as  he 
afterward  admitted,  had  been  thinking  of  nothing 
else  but  his  wife  who  was  sick  at  home. 

This  occurrence  gives  us  an  example  of  an 
automatic  activity  of  the  brain  so  perfected 
through  long  practise  that  attention  could  be 
entirely  excluded  from  the  work  in  hand  without 
in  any  way  disturbing  the  orderly  process  of 
brain  function  involved  in  it.  At  any  rate,  it 
is  clear  from  this  that  where  the  power  of 
attention  is  present,  occasional  sense  deceptions 
may  obtain  a  transitory  but  not  a  permanent 
influence  upon  the  brain  and  mental  activity. 

In  psychically  abnormal  individuals  the  power 
of  attention  is  wanting.     They  are  unable  to  con- 


58  CHILD    TRAINING 

centrate  their  thoughts,  to  combiue  and  compare 
the  various  perceptions  with  each  other.  In  con- 
sequence, they  lack  critical  power,  which  explains 
why  their  entire  mental  activity  is  governed  one- 
sidedly  by  certain  auditory  or  visual  hallucina- 
tions, or  by  any  kind  of  delusion.  Their  entire 
mental  life  is  directed  into  false  channels  be- 
cause all  their  concepts  and  judgments  are  built 
upon  false  premises  which  can  not  be  corrected. 
Many  psychically  abnormal  individuals,  whether 
children  or  adults,  will  frequently  be  found  to 
think  and  act  logically  as  soon  as  a  delusional 
idea,  which  is  dominating  them,  is  acknowledged 
to  be  correct.  The  mentally  disordered  fre- 
quently possess  a  large  store  of  ideas,  but  these 
represent  for  them  just  so  much  dead  capital, 
because  they  coordinate  the  individual  ideas  not 
in  accordance  with  their  actual  values,  but  in 
accordance  with  their  actual  relationship  to  a 
certain  basal  disordered  concept.  The  healthy 
person,  on  the  other  hand,  by  allowing  his  entire 
conceptual  circle  to  come  into  action  through 
constant  association  and  comparison  of  old  and 
new  impressions,  is  constantly  learning  more 
accurately  to  differentiate  correct  and  false  per- 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  59 

ceptions,  to  exclude  erroneous  percepts,  and  to 
permit  himself  to  be  governed  in  his  deter- 
minations only  by  correct  considerations.  The 
store  of  experiences  which  we  owe  to  the  activity 
of  our  sensory  nerves  is  one  collected  gradually, 
and  it  becomes  conserved,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  through  the  memory.  The  conceptual  circle 
remains  narrow  when  the  sensory  impressions 
are  false  or  indistinct  and  when  the  memory  is 
not  to  be  trusted.  But  it  also  remains  restricted 
when  certain  sensory  organs  do  not  functionate 
at  all,  as  is  the  case  in  blindness  or  deafness, 
either  congenital  or  acquired  in  early  childhood. 
If  one  could  imagine  all  perceptions  coming  from 
the  interior  of  the  body  to  be  extinguished,  a 
person  would  no  longer  be  able  to  recognize  him- 
self in  relation  to  the  outer  world  as  a  special 
being;  a  state  of  unconsciousness  would  supervene 
without  necessitating  a  cessation  of  vital  activity. 
This  state  of  unconsciousness  would,  in  case  no 
single  sensory  organ  carried  out  its  function, 
exist  from  birth.  If  a  normally  developed  indi- 
vidual were  overtaken  by  such  a  fate  in  later 
years,  after  he  had  already  acquired  a  large  fund 
of  conceptual  experience,  it  would  naturally  take 


60  CHILD    TRAINING 

a  longer  time  until  complete  mental  obscurity 
sets  in.  Our  experience  with  the  blind  and  the 
deaf  shows  us  that  their  conceptual  circle  is 
much  narrower  wlien  their  defects  have  existed 
from  birth  than  when  they  have  been  acquired 
in  later  years.  At  any  rate,  the  cases  are  not 
rare  in  which  individuals  born  blind  or  deaf, 
or  even  those  who  have  come  into  the  world 
suffering  both  those  afflictions  and  who,  there- 
fore, could  never  obtain  any  idea  of  color  or 
tone,  have  developed  normally.  The  absence  of 
certain  sensory  impressions  and  the  gap  thereby 
created  in  their  circle  of  ideas  can,  therefore, 
through  constant  practise,  especially  in  the  blind, 
be  at  any  rate  partially  replaced  by  a  better 
development  of  the  existing  sensory  organs.  In 
evidence  of  this  I  need  only  refer  to  Helen 
Keller,  who,  notwithstanding  her  blindness  and 
deafness  from  birth,  was  able  successfully  to 
acquire  an  academic  education.  Naturally,  such 
a  case  constitutes  the  exception.  The  rule  is 
that,  without  unusual  mental  talent,  the  blind 
and  the  deaf,  and  particularly  the  blind-deaf, 
will,  notwithstanding  all  effort  and  all  methods 
of    instruction    specially    adapted    to    their    infir- 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  61 

mity,    retain    a    psychic    deficiency    which    is    in 
accord  with  their  sensory  defect. 

A  certain  restriction  of  the  conceptual  circle 
will  also  be  present  where  the  sensory  percep- 
tions are  delayed.  The  speed  with  which  the 
stimulation  of  peripheral  nerves  is  conducted  to 
the  brain  can  be  accurately  measured.  On  the 
average  it  is  about  forty  meters  per  second.  If, 
for  instance,  the  foot  of  a  person  be  pricked 
with  a  needle  and  he  be  instructed  to  move  his 
right  forefinger  in  a  certain  manner  as  an  indi- 
cation that  he  has  felt  the  sting,  a  certain  time 
will  elapse  between  the  prick  of  the  needle  and 
the  movement  of  the  finger.  The  first  stage  in 
this  stimulation  of  the  sensory  nerves  will  be 
the  conduction  of  the  excitation  from  the  nerves 
of  the  leg  to  the  spinal  cord,  and  in  turn  through 
the  cord  to  the  brain  stem  and  the  white  medul- 
lary substance  and  into  the  gray  cortex  of  the 
post-central  convolutions.  On  the  road  various 
transfers  from  one  neuron  to  another  take  place. 
The  second  state  is  constituted  by  the  conscious 
appreciation  of  the  stimulus  as  pain  and  the 
setting  into  action  of  the  impulse  of  the  will  for 
the    movement   of   the   index   finger.      The    third 


62  CHILD    TRAINING 

stage  is  the  conduction  of  the  motor  impulses 
from  the  motor  brain  cells  to  the  musculature  of 
the  index  finger,  and  the  fourth  and  final  stage 
is  the  muscular  contraction  and  the  movement  of 
the  finger.  If  the  moment  of  the  prick  and 
that  of  the  movement  of  the  finger  be  registered 
by  means  of  an  electrical  apparatus,  the  time 
vv'hich  intervenes  between  the  two,  the  so-called 
"reaction  time,"  may  be  accurately  measured. 
If  this  experiment  is  repeated  when  a  prick  is 
inflicted  upon  the  hip,  instead  of  the  foot,  the 
reaction  time  will  be  of  somewhat  shorter  dura- 
tion, for  then  the  course  which  the  stimulation 
the  sensory  nerves  will  have  to  take  until  it 
reaches  the  brain  cortex  will  be  a  shorter  one. 

If,  under  otherwise  equal  conditions,  the  re- 
action time  is  longer,  nerve  conduction  is  re- 
tarded. Usually  this  is  dependent  upon  fatigue 
of  the  brain.  Hence  this  method  is  also  adapted 
for  testing  the  exhaustibility  of  the  brain.  An 
individual  with  a  comparatively  prolonged  re- 
action time,  and  in  whom,  therefore,  nerve 
conduction  is  retarded,  in  consequence  of  the 
more  rapid  exhaustibility  of  the  brain,  compre- 
hends with  much  more  difficulty  than  one  whose 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  63 

ganglion  cells  have  been  less  used  up.  It  requires 
a  much  longer  time  for  him  to  interpret  sensory 
impressions,  and  to  arrange  them  within  their 
perceptual  circle.  Sometimes  his  sensory  per- 
ception is  so  retarded  that,  with  his  eyes  bound 
up,  he  is  unable  to  designate  accurately  where 
his  skin  has  been  touched,  whether  he  has  re- 
ceived a  prick,  been  touched  with  hot  or  cold 
water,  or  made  to  feel  some  other  unusual  sen- 
sation. 

We  have  thus  seen  that  the  integrity  of  the 
organs  of  special  sense,  the  nerve  conductors 
and  the  brain  ganglia,  must  cooperate  with  a 
good  memory  in  order  that  not  only  correct  but 
also  numerous  sensory  impressions  and  percepts 
may  arise.  The  whole  of  our  higher  mental  life 
is,  as  I  have  already  said,  bound  to  the  cerebral 
cortex,  to  the  entire  cortex  and  not  to  single 
lobes  and  convolutions,  altho  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that  a  greater  development  of  certain 
portions  of  the  cortex  favors  certain  capabilities 
and  thus  endows  consciousness  and  character  with 
an  individual  impress.  This,  however,  in  nowise 
controverts  the  fact  that  the  centers  for  motion, 
speech,  etc.,  are  limited  to  certain  definite  areas 


G-i  CHILD    TRAINING 

of  the  brain.  At  any  rate  memory,  thought 
association,  apperception,  the  activities  of  the 
will,  and  all  higher  psychic  functions  run  their 
course  in  the  entire  cerebral  cortex.  That  the 
ganglion  cells  of  the  cerebellujn  participate  in 
these  activities  can  not  be  doubted,  but  it  can  not 
be  proved  that  conscious  perceptions  take  place 
in  the  cerebellum  or  that  volitional  acts  are 
incited  from  it. 

The  greater  development  of  single  lobes  and 
convolutions  of  the  cerebral  cortex  is  partly  con- 
genital, partly  acquired  in  consequence  of 
practise.  In  the  main  it  is  the  product  of  both 
factors  combined.  The  millions  of  nerve  cells 
which  are  arranged  in  the  convoluted  gray  cortex 
are  most  intimately  interconnected  with  one  an- 
other. The  impressions  which  they  acquire  by 
means  of  the  receiving  tracts  thus  become  an 
integral  part  of  the  individual's  mentality,  and 
cause  it  to  respond  to  the  excitations  of  the  outer 
world  in  a  special  manner.  The  intensity  with 
which  the  interaction  and  the  assimilation  of  the 
sensory  impressions  takes  place  is,  as  we  have 
already  said,  a  varying  one.  It  may  be  abnor- 
mally retarded  or  it  may  be  unusually  acceler- 


ORGAN'S  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY     65 

ated.  The  latter  is  the  case  in  persons  of  great 
talent  or  genius — in  whom  then,  in  order  to 
repeat,  the  capability  of  rapid  intercommunication 
between  the  ganglion  cells,  the  lightning-like 
reaction  may  be  partly  congenital,  partly  ac- 
quired. What  chemical  and  physical  processes 
take  place  in  the  reposing  or  active  nerve  cells 
is  not  known,  and  we  have  no  knowledge  what- 
soever as  to  how  these  mechanical  processes 
become  converted  into  the  physiological  manifes- 
tations of  consciousness,  will,  etc.  "We  know 
only  that  certain  nerve  tracts  gradually  become 
''passable,"  so  that  the  transmitted  perceptions 
or  will  impulses  take  place  more  rapidly  and 
with  greater  precision.  We  also  know  that  when 
a  loss  of  certain  direct  connections  between  the 
ganglion  cells  and  the  nerve  fibers  occurs,  the 
organism  learns  to  use  the  neighboring  ones,  so 
that  their  performances  are  carried  out  by  means 
of  a  vicarious  activity,  but  in  a  less  certain  and 
exact  manner. 

An  understanding  of  the  ways  and  means  by 
which  the  highly  complicated  processes  of  con- 
sciousness become  activated  can  best  be  formed 
by  a  study  of  the  course  of  development  through 


66  CHILD    TRAINING 

which  the  embryonal  and  infantile  activity  passes. 
This,  however,  will  be  discust  in  a  special  chapter. 
Here  I  would  merely  touch  upon  the  psychic 
functions  of  the  more  advanced  periods  of  life. 
In  old  age  the  ability  to  receive  new  impressions 
and  to  form  new  association  tracts  decreases, 
either  because  the  ganglion  cells  have  become 
overfilled  and  have  no  more  place  for  anything 
new,  or  because  the  brain  substance  has  become 
unresponsive  to  new  formations  and  new  tracts, 
in  which  case  the  psychic  functions  take  their 
course  in  the  accustomed  paths  only,  but  not 
infrequently  with  great  facility.  If  the  previous 
mental  store  has  been  a  comprehensive  one, 
efficiency,  even  when  no  new  impressions  are 
assimilated,  may  be  very  marked  and  persist 
even  into  the  most  advanced  age,  a  fact  which 
may  be  corroborated  by  the  study  of  the  lives 
of  many  great  men.  In  the  majority  of  people, 
however,  when  old  age  sets  in,  the  mental  powers 
begin  to  decrease  in  all  fields,  a  process  which 
gradually  leads  up  to  a  state  of  senile  dementia, 
there  being  no  well-defined  border  line  to  mark 
the  transition.  A  considerable  influence  in  the 
production  of  the  senile  changes  in  the  nervous 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  G7 

central  organs  is  exerted  by  arterio-sclerosis — a 
gradual  hardening  and  calcification  of  the  blood- 
vessels— which  leads  to  interference  with  the 
circulation  and  with  the  nutrition  of  the  corres- 
ponding organs  and  parts  of  the  body.  Naturally, 
when  this  condition  exists,  the  blood-supply  and 
the  nutrition  of  the  brain  will  also  suffer,  and 
this  can  not  remain  without  influence  upon  the 
psychic  functions. 

During  sleep  the  brain  rests.  Of  so  great  im- 
portance to  the  central  organs,  as  well  as  the 
peripheral  nerves,  are  the  regular  and  prolonged 
periods  of  recuperation  which  the  nervous  system 
obtains  during  sleep,  that  in  order  to  ascertain 
the  extreme  effects  of  loss  of  sleep  it  was  deemed 
advisable  to  make  experiments  upon  animals 
rather  than  on  human  beings.  These  experi- 
ments have  shown  that  animals  well  fed  but 
prevented  from  obtaining  sleep,  waste  away  much 
more  rapidly  than  those  deprived  of  nourish- 
ment but  allowed  to  sleep. 

As  sleep  we  designate  that  state  in  which  the 
higher  psychic  functions  of  the  cerebral  cortex 
are  absent,  while  the  automatic  movements  of 
the  heart,  lungs,  digestive  organs,  etc.,  continue, 


68  CHILD    TRAINING 

and  the  reflex  movements  remain  unimpaired. 
Therefore,  the  pupils  of  a  sleeping  person  will 
contract  when  the  eyelids  are  raised,  a  defense 
movement  will  be  made  when  he  is  tickled,  etc. 
But  a  person  even  in  the  most  profound  sleep 
remains  impressionable  to  external  influence,  for 
otherwise  he  could  not  be  awakened.  Mental 
activity,  therefore,  does  not  cease  entirely  during 
sleep,  but  is  only  signally  reduced.  This  is 
corroborated  by  those  psychic  processes  which 
take  place  during  sleep,  and  which  we  call 
dreams. 

We  have  no  distinct  understanding  of  the  true 
cause  of  sleep.  The  fact  that  man  can  not  do 
without  sleep  is  not  an  adequate  explanation. 
"What  we  should  know  is  what  provisions  nature 
has  instituted  in  order  to  bring  about  sleep. 
We  know  that  by  means  of  a  diminution  in  the 
blood  supply  of  the  brain,  faintness  or  uncon- 
sciousness will  Ix'  produced.  For  this  reason 
some  investigators  assume  the  cause  of  sleep 
should  be  sought  in  an  anemia  of  the  brain. 
There  is,  however,  a  great  difference  between 
sleep  and  the  unconsciousness  of  a  faint;  the 
one   is   a   physiological,    the   other   a   pathological 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  69 

state.  This  is  also  shown  by  their  outward 
manifestations.  Persons  unconscious  in  conse- 
quence of  anemia  of  the  brain  are  markedly  pale, 
whereas  healthy  persons  during  sleep  show  a 
redness  of  the  face,  which  indicates  there  is  no 
anemia  of  the  brain.  Other  investigators,  there- 
fore, assume  that  sleep  is  a  result  of  the  accu- 
mulation of  catabolic  products  in  the  blood  which, 
acting  upon  the  brain,  produce  a  kind  of  uncon- 
sciousness. Others  again  seek  the  cause  of  sleep 
in  a  dearth  of  oxygen  in  the  body.  During  the 
waking  state  and  in  consequence  of  a  person's 
varied  activities  more  oxygen  is  consumed  than 
the  lungs  are  capable  of  receiving.  Sleep,  there- 
fore, makes  possible  the  accumulating  and  storing 
of  oxygen  so  it  may  be  expended  in  muscular 
movement  during  the  waking  period.  This 
explanation,  however,  is  also  unsatisfactory,  for 
mere  inactivity — rest  alone — should  be  quite 
sufficient  to  bring  about  a  storage  of  oxygen. 
Furthermore,  the  quantity  of  oxygen  inhaled 
during  sleep  is  certainly  less  than  that  inhaled 
during  the  waking  state.  Whether,  therefore, 
the  need  for  sleep,  and  its  precursory  signs, 
yawning,    etc.,    are    dependent    upon    a    lack    of 


70  CHILI)    TRAINING 

oxygen  must  remain  questionable.  Through  ex- 
periments upon  animals  it  is  believed  to  have 
been  proved  that  the  delicate  prolongations  of 
the  brain  ganglia  contract  during  sleep  and 
thereby  the  connection  between  the  ganglion  cells 
is  broken  and  the  normal  flow  of  thoughts  be- 
comes inhibited.  But  even  tliis  does  not  disclose 
the  true  cause  of  sleep.  For  even  if  we  admit 
the  anatomical  fact  to  be  correct,  we  must  still 
ask,  Why  do  the  dendrites  and  neurites  contract? 
The  common  view  that  sleep  is  due  to  fatigue  is 
also  incorrect.  Many  people  sleep  without  being 
fatigued,  and  many  are  unable  to  sleep  because 
they  are  over-fatigued  or  exhausted.  Hence  we 
see  it  is  not  easy  to  form  a  definite  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  true  cause  of  sleep. 

The  sleeping  and  waking  states  can  not  be 
sharply  differentiated.  During  a  state  of  half- 
sleep  or  wakeful  sleep,  the  dream  percepts  and 
the  true  sense  perceptions  combine  into  one  com- 
plete picture  and  falsify  the  actual  happenings. 
Sleep  intoxication  also  is  a  state  of  wakeful  sleep. 
The  awaking  of  a  person  who  is  sleep-drunk  does 
not  occur  quickly  and  completely,  but  slowly,  so 
that  his  dream  images  are  carried  over  into  his 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  71 

state  of  semi-wakefulness.  He  is  unable  to 
differentiate  accurately  between  his  dreams  and 
actual  happenings,  confuses  persons  and  objects 
of  his  surroundings,  and  is  afflicted  with  those 
physiological  sense  deceptions  of  which  we  have 
already  spoken. 

Sleep,  as  stated,  does  not  completely  interrupt 
the  connection  between  the  mind  and  the  sensory 
perceptions,  Altho  it  is  generally  correct  that 
sleep  is  to  a  certain  degree  dependent  upon  an 
absence  of  sensory  stimulation,  and  that  sleep 
will  be  wanting  when  the  mind  is  kept  alert  by 
strong  sensory  impressions,  loud  noises,  bright 
light  or  color  perceptions,  etc.,  nevertheless,  even 
during  sleep  the  mind  remains  active  under  the 
influence  of  those  sensory  stimuli  which  are 
always  present.  The  mental  activity  of  the  sleep- 
ing state,  however,  differs  from  that  of  the 
waking  state,  firstly,  in  the  fantastic  transforma- 
tions of  sensory  impressions ;  and,  secondly,  in  the 
confusion  of  the  flow  of  ideas.  The  brain  activity 
which  takes  place  during  sleep  we  call  dreaming. 
Whether  there  exists  a  dreamless  sleep,  a  state  in 
which  the  mind  is  completely  inactive,  can  be 
determined   only   with   difficulty.    When    we    are 


72  CHILD    TRAINING 

awakened  from  a  deep  sleep  we  always  note  the 
remnant  of  a  dream.  On  the  other  hand  if,  after 
a  normal  awakening,  we  believe  we  have  not 
dreamed,  this  may  simply  be  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  dream  has  left  no  memory-picture  behind. 
Dreams,  just  like  thoughts  which  occur  during  the 
waking  state,  are  governed  by  the  course  which 
the  original  structure  of  the  brain  and  acquired 
education  have  given  the  association  processes 
and  through  which  the  activity  of  one  part  of  the 
brain  cortex  stimulates  other  cortical  areas  inter- 
connected with  it  by  means  of  association  tracts. 
During  the  waking  state  the  activity  of  the  brain 
is  determined  by  the  influence  which  is  exerted  by 
the  outer  world.  The  sensory  impressions  furnish 
the  material  for  the  ideas,  and  the  understanding 
brings  about  the  connection  between  them.  In  sleep, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  brain  elaborates  these  per- 
cepts of  itself,  not  only  through  the  aid  of  memory 
pictures  but  also  through  unusually  active  sen- 
sory stimuli,  which  are  transformed  in  a  fantastic 
way  because  the  control  of  waking  consciousness 
is  missing.  Free,  easy  breathing  arouses  in  the 
dreaming  person  the  idea  of  flying,  oppressive 
breathing    produces    the    sensation    of    fear,    the 


ORGANS  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY  73 

noise  of  falling  rain  is  converted  into  an  inunda- 
tion, a  mosquito  bite  into  the  stab  of  a  dagger, 
a  warming  bottle  into  a  siesta  in  the  tropics,  the 
humming  of  a  fly  into  a  roaring  storm,  a  ray 
of  light  into  paradise,  the  exposure  of  a  part  of 
the  body  to  the  cold  air  into  a  sleigh-ride  on  a 
winter's  night,  etc.  Dreams  will  always  corres- 
pond, more  or  less,  to  the  conceptual  contents  of 
waking  consciousness.  Since,  therefore,  during 
sleep  ideas  and  thoughts  lack  their  logical  govern- 
ment— that  is,  the  regulating  supervision  and  the 
restricting  influence  of  the  actual  sense  percep- 
tions— the  association  of  ideas  during  the  dream 
will  go  on  in  disordered  confusion  and  often  will 
combine  the  most  unusual  and  the  most  senseless 
matters  in  bewildering  alteration.  Uninterrupt- 
edly the  picture  changes,  without  causing  us  any 
astonishment.  This  confusion  in  the  ideational 
processes  and  the  lack  of  judgment  which  it  pro- 
duces also  involve  the  concepts  of  time.  A  dream 
often  lasts  only  for  seconds,  and  still  it  may  seem 
like  an  eternity.  The  dreams  are  all  the  more 
intense  the  less  the  flight  of  the  imagination  is 
inhibited  by  conscious  attention  to  objects  and 
thoughts,  or  the  less  it  is  restricted  in  consequence 


74  CHILD    TRAINING 

of  distinct  sense  perceptions.  Children  and  young, 
impressionable  persons  often  talk  in  their  sleep,  but 
this  alone,  in  the  absence  of  other  signs  of  nervous- 
ness, is  not  to  be  considered  a  neurotic  symptom. 

B.  Development  of  the  Child's  Mental  Activity 

The  earliest  movements  of  the  human  embryo 
and  of  the  child  are  entirely  reflex.  The  first 
sensory  impressions  are,  undoubtedly,  incited  in 
the  fetus  from  the  entire  surface  of  the  body.  To 
these  soon  become  padded  impressions  from  the 
postures  of  the  joints  and  from  the  contractions  of 
the  muscles,  for  these  organs,  too,  are  provided 
with  sensory  nerves.  All  these  impressions  find 
their  way  to  the  cortex  of  the  cerebrum,  especially 
to  the  central  and  parietal  convolutions.  The 
nerve  cells  located  in  the  cortex,  even  in  the  fetus, 
possess  the  property  of  permanently  storing  sen- 
sory impressions  and  of  reproducing  them  when 
needed  in  the  shape  of  memory  pictures. 

After  birth,  memory  pictures  of  visual  per- 
'ceptions  become  stored  in  the  occipital  lobes,  those 
of  auditory  perception  in  the  temporal  lobes,  those 
of  impressions  of  smell  and  taste  in  their  corres- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY       75 

ponding  regions  of  the  brain  cortex.  The  great 
significance  which  the  visual,  gustatory,  and 
olfactory  sensations  and  their  memory  pictures, 
elicited  in  the  infant  by  its  sucking  at  the  breast, 
have  upon  the  arousal  of  consciousness  and  will, 
is  generally  known.  These  memory  pictures,  lying 
ready  in  separate  parts  of  the  brain  cortex,  become 
connected  with  one  another  through  the  associa- 
tion tracts.  From  the  associated  processes,  and 
therefore,  from  the  connected  perceptions  and 
memory  pictures,  there  gradually  arise  ideas, 
thoughts,  and  judgments — in  short,  the  existing 
contents  of  consciousness,  and,  finally,  the  entire 
higher  psychic  life.  As  a  special  example  of  this 
developmental  method,  we  may  mention  the  pro- 
cesses involved  in  the  acquisition  of  speech,  to 
which  we  shall  give  more  extended  attention  later. 
Like  the  beginnings  of  psychic  activity  in  earliest 
childhood,  so  the  further  development  of  mental 
powers  of  a  riper  age  takes  place  as  a  sequel  to 
the  ordinary  experiences  of  life.  In  constantly  in- 
creasing numbers  sensory  perceptions  and  their 
memory  pictures  become  deposited  in  complexes  of 
brain  ganglia  and  are  brought  to  the  consciousness 
by  adequate  stimuli.     The  contents  of  mental  life 


76  CHILD    TRAINING 

become  extended  and  intensified  through  collabora- 
tion with  the  new  perceptions,  and  this  coopera- 
tion in  turn  is  made  possible  and  facilitated  by 
the  increase  in  the  number  of  nerve  cells  and  nerve 
tracts  from  year  to  year. 

Furthermore,  the  formation  of  new  association 
tracts  greatly  aids  the  direct  connection  between 
the  sensory  and  motor  spheres,  as  we  may  easily 
understand  by  observing  our  own  acquirement  of 
new  accomplishments,  even  at  more  advanced  ages. 
This  is  shown  more  specifically  by  the  manner  in 
which  walking,  horseback  riding,  bicycle  riding, 
reading  and  writing,  piano  playing,  etc.,  are 
learned.  In  the  beginning  all  these  activities  are 
carried  out  in  connection  with  many  awkward 
associated  movements,  it  being  difficult  for  the  will 
to  stimulate  immediately  the  proper  tracts  and 
thus  to  bring  about  the  proper  position  of  the 
muscles  and  joints.  After  we  have  acquired  a 
certain  dexterity,  the  proper  movements,  those 
which  correspond  to  the  existing  sensory  impres- 
sions, are  easily  set  into  action  with  hardly  any 
control  by  consciousness,  almost  or  entirely  with- 
out any  voluntary  action — in  other  words,  they 
have  become  automatic  or  reflex.     As  an  example 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY       77 

of  the  manner  in  which  certain  nerve  tracts  may 
become  "passable,"  in  consequence  of  constant 
practise,  so  that  they  will  act  almost  automatically, 
we  may  take  the  scientist  or  the  journalist,  who  is 
obliged,  on  account  of  his  profession,  to  read 
constantly  and  rapidly.  While  the  inexperienced 
reader  will  study  letters,  syllables,  and  words, 
and,  in  order  to  produce  the  tone  pictures  which 
belong  to  these  words,  will  read  aloud  or,  at  any 
rate,  think  of  the  sounds  of  the  words,  the  prac- 
tised person  loses  no  time  in  that  manner.  At  a 
glance  he  comprehends  entire  sentences  and  conse- 
quently he  absorbs  the  contents  of  an  entire  page 
with  extreme  rapidity.  In  time  he  becomes  so  well 
acquainted  with  the  expression  and  mode  of 
thought  of  individual  speakers  and  writers,  that, 
with  only  moderate  attention,  aided  by  certain 
peculiarities  of  expression,  or  by  certain  frequently 
recurrent  constructions  of  sentences,  he  is  able 
most  easily  to  follow  the  lecture  or  in  the  briefest 
time  to  read  the  essay,  and,  to  the  astonishment 
of  the  unpractised,  to  reproduce  the  essential  con- 
tents of  what  he  has  heard  or  read. 

It  is  a  long  and  difificult  road  from  the  early 
speech  acquirements  of  the  child  to  that  dexterity 


78  CHILD    TRAININa 

which  will  enable  one's  sensory  apparatus,  brain 
ganglia,  association  tracts  and  motor  organs  to 
respond  immediately  and  properly  to  external 
stimuli.  This  becomes  manifest  not  only  in  learn- 
ing to  read  but  also  in  learning  to  speak.  Articu- 
late speech  is  exclusively  a  gift  of  human  beings, 
while,  as  we  know,  voice  and  song  are  widely 
spread  in  the  animal  world.  It  is  true  that,  by 
means  of  the  voice  and  its  varied  modulations, 
animals  as  well  as  human  beings  possess  the  power 
of  communicating  with  one  another.  Parrots  and 
certain  other  birds  are  even  able  to  imitate  words, 
but  this  imitation  does  not  deserve  the  name  of 
speech,  since  the  birds  do  not  attach  any  definite 
meaning  to  the  words  they  utter.  ]\Ian  owes  his 
perfected  speech  essentially  to  his  higher  mental 
capabilities;  for,  in  order  to  speak,  thought  pro- 
cesses such  as  can  be  produced  only  by  the  human 
brain  are  requisite. 

The  seat  of  the  faculty  of  speech,  the  speech 
center,  is  located  in  the  left  frontal  lobe  of  the 
cerebrum.  Disease,  or  destruction  of  this,  results 
in  speech  paralysis,  for  if  either  of  those  condi- 
tions exist  the  organs  of  speech  can  no  longer  be 
set  into  motion.       This  state  is  known  as  motor 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY       79 

aphasia.  Such  aphasia  may  exist  without  loss  of 
the  capability  of  sensory  perception,  apperception 
and  thought  association.  It  is  precisely  the  power 
of  expression  of  ideas  and  thoughts  by  means  of 
audible  sounds  which  is  lost.  In  sensory  aphasia, 
on  the  other  hand,  auditory  or  visual  impressions 
can  not  be  perceived  because  their  centers  are 
absent  or  are  destroyed.  These  states  are  described 
respectively  by  the  terras  "word-deafness"  and 
"word-blindness."  When  both  auditory  and  visual 
centers  have  lost  their  power  of  functionating,  the 
resulting  afflict,ion  is  called  "soul-blindness." 
Aphasia  may  exist,  however,  even  when  percep- 
tional power  is  present,  as  is  the  case,  for  instance, 
when,  in  consequence  of  memory  having  been  lost, 
motor  stimulation  of  the  organs  of  speech  does  not 
take  place.  This  state  is  called  amnesic  aphasia. 
Later  we  shall  recur  to  the  various  forms  of 
aphasia,  which  play  an  important  role  in  the 
mental  life  of  the  child  as  well  as  that  of  the  adult. 
At  this  point,  however,  I  would  draw  attention  to 
the  fact  that  individuals  whose  brains  are  too  small 
never  learn  to  think  and  speak  perfectly  and  con- 
nectedly. 

The  development  of  speech  can  be  best  under- 


80  CHILD    TRAINING 

stood  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  the  fundamental 
law  of  biogenesis.  According  to  this  law,  the 
development  of  the  individual  is  a  curtailed  repe- 
tition of  the  development  of  the  entire  species.  In  a 
way,  therefore,  the  development  of  the  entire  human 
race,  from  its  earliest  stage  to  its  present  cultural 
eminence,  is  crowded  together  into  the  development 
of  the  child.  "While,  however,  the  human  race  re- 
quired thousands  of  years  to  rise  to  its  present 
state  of  civilization,  the  child  in  a  few  years 
traverses  this  almost  immeasurable  road.  This  is 
possible  only  because  the  struggle  for  existence, 
the  competition  of  many  individuals  for  the  limited 
existing  supply  of  the  means  necessary  to  preserve 
life,  has  persistently  driven  people  to  an  unceasing 
output  of  all  their  energies.  Under  this  stress 
they  made  discoveries  and  inventions,  gradually 
arrived  at  a  recognition  of  the  laws  of  nature,  and 
learned  to  make  the  inexhaustible  gifts  and  forces 
of  the  earth  subservient  to  their  own  needs.  Any 
one  who  remained  behind  in  this  universal  com- 
petition was  not  adapted  to  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence, and,  sooner  or  later,  was  forced  to  succumb. 

The   survivors,    the   "fittest"    as    Darwin    has 
called   them,   were   just   those   individuals   whose 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY       81 

organs  adapted  themselves  to  the  augmented  de- 
mands or  who,  in  other  words,  developed  more  and 
more  highly.  They  acquired  new  qualities  which 
in  time  became  part  of  their  permanent  store  of 
resources,  and  which  by  heredity  were  transmitted 
to  their  descendants.  Progressive  development 
then  made  it  impossible  for  these  descendants  to 
become  anchored  at  the  stage  of  development  which 
they  had  inherited  from  their  progenitors,  but 
obliged  them  in  their  turn  to  acquire  new  qualities. 
What  was  sufficient  for  the  progenitors  no  longer 
sufficed  for  their  descendants,  and  what  was  ample 
for  the  needs  of  the  latter  was  no  longer  suited 
to  the  needs  of  their  children.  Consequently,  the 
latest  descendants  were  always  in  the  lead,  being 
equipped  at  birth  with  qualities  which  their  fore- 
bears did  not  originally  possess. 

All  cultural  progress,  therefore,  briefly  stated, 
consists  in  the  constant  acquirement  of  new  quali- 
ties by  means  of  which  the  struggle  for  existence 
can  be  more  and  more  successfully  made.  The 
acquirement  of  the  additional  qualities  could  be 
accomplished  in  a  single  generation,  but  the  trans- 
mission of  them  could  be  effected  only  when,  in 
the  course  of  generations,  they  had  lost  their  new- 


82  CHILD    TRAINING 

iiess  and  had  become  transformed  into  essential, 
"constitutional"  qualities. 

Heredity  is,  therefore,  made  up  of  two  factors. 
The  one  factor  causes  certain  qualities  to  remain 
constant.  Through  the  second,  however,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  influence  of  external  conditions  of 
life,  certain  traits  become  altered,  and  thus  new 
qualities  are  called  into  being,  which  may  be  ser- 
viceable or  disadvantageous  in  the  struggle  for 
existence.  The  serviceable  ones  are  those  which, 
as  a  result  of  inherited  adaptability,  tend  toward 
a  higher  stage  of  development.  The  disadvan- 
tageous ones  are  those  which,  as  a  result  of  in- 
herited weakness,  make  for  a  diminished  power  of 
resistance  to  altered  conditions  of  life.  "Were  the 
tendency  toward  a  maintenance  of  parental  quali- 
ties not  transmitted  to  the  children,  the  latter  could 
resemble  their  parents  neither  physically  nor 
psychically.  And  were  the  capability  of  variation 
not  transmitted  from  parent  to  child,  the  latter 
would  always  be  the  unaltered  replica  of  its 
progenitor — physically  as  well  as  psychically. 

The  law  of  constancy  and  the  law  of  variability 
are  therefore,  so  to  speak,  at  war  with  each  other. 
"Without  the  law  of  constancy  the    human    race 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY       83 

would  be  subject  to  unceasing  alterations  from 
generation  to  generation.  Without  the  law  of 
variability,  on  the  other  hand,  no  change  could 
come  about.  The  changes  in  the  human  race  take 
place  slowly  when  the  law  of  constancy  predomi- 
nates, and  rapidly  when  the  law  of  variability  is 
in  the  ascendancy.  The  more  the  quality  of 
adaptability  to  altered  conditions  of  life  has  been 
pronounced  in  a  child's  progenitors,  the  more 
rapidly  will  it  traverse  the  various  stages  of  human 
development.  The  less  its  ancestors  have  possest 
the  power  of  acquiring  new  traits,  the  slower  will 
be  its  developmental  growth.  The  child  remains 
backward  because  its  ancestors  have  remained 
backward.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  ancestral 
tree  of  a  normal  child  should  be  expected  to  have 
none  but  normal  branches,  or  that  of  a  deficient 
child  none  but  deficient  ones.  The  hereditary 
transmission  of  useful  as  well  as  of  harmful 
qualities  need  not  be  direct,  but  may  skip  several 
generations. 

Johann  Gregor  Mendel,  an  Augustinian  monk, 
whose  life  purpose  was  really  not  theology  but  the 
investigation  of  natural  science,  and  who  died  in 
1884  as  Abbot  in  the  Monastery  of  Briinn,  has 


84  CHILD    TRAINING 

made  a  special  study  of  the  laws  of  heredity  as 
they  pertain  to  plants.  Others  have  applied  his 
methods  to  determine  the  laws  of  heredity  among 
animals.  As  a  result  of  his  observations  and  ex- 
periments he  evolved  a  law  which  has  been  named 
after  him  as  Mendel's  law,  and  which,  as  modified 
by  later  discoveries,  is  as  follows:  In  the  crossing 
of  two  species  of  animals  or  plants  which  differ 
from  each  other  in  a  certain  characteristic,  the 
descendants  in  the  first  generation  almost  all  show 
only  the  quality  belonging  to  one  parent,  while 
the  quality  belonging  to  the  other  has  apparently 
been  lost.  The  quality  thus  transmitted  to  the 
descendants  is  known  as  <the  "dominant,"  the 
other  as  the  ''recessive"  quality.  The  terms 
"dominant"  and  "recessive"  were  employed  by 
Mendel  in  a  purely  metaphorical  way  to  explain 
this  one  great  fact  in  the  first  generation  of  cross- 
ings. 

Mendel's  results  were  obtained  by  fertilizing  the 
stigma  of  a  tall  pea  plant  with  pollen  from  a 
dwarf  one,  or  vice  versa.  In  such  a  crossing  of  a 
tall  and  a  dwarf  plant,  the  products  of  the  first 
generation  are  all  tall,  and  not,  as  might  be  as- 
sumed, of  a  medium  height.     Mendel  called  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY      85 

tall  quality  dominant  and  the  dwarf  quality  reces- 
sive, saying  ''the  term  recessive  had  been  chosen 
because  the  characters  thereby  designated,  with- 
drew or  entirely  disappeared  in  the  hybrid."  In 
the  second  generation  the  recessive  quality  re- 
appears in  one-fourth  of  the  offspring  while  three- 
fourths  show  the  dominant  one.  In  the  succeeding 
generations  the  proportion  of  offspring  having  the 
recessive  trait  remains  constant,  while  of  those  with 
the  dominant  characteristic  two-thirds  remain  con- 
stant and  one-third  are  subject  to  the  change 
mentioned.  The  rule  according  to  which  individual 
qualities  of  the  ascendants  remain  constant  in  the 
descendants  is  called  the  rule  of  maintenance. 
The  other  rule,  according  to  which  certain  qualities 
at  first  disappear  and  later  reappear,  is  called  the 
rule  of  discontinuity.  A  mixture  of  the  parental 
qualities  never  takes  place  in  hybrids,  but  inevit- 
ably the  differentiating  characteristics  of  the  one 
parent  alone  is  transmitted. 

Altho  the  observations  and  experiments  of 
Mendel  and  his  followers  were  confined  entirely  to 
plants  and  animals — for  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible for  them  to  undertake  similar  experiments 
with  human  beings — Mendel's  law  is  of  great  im- 


86  CHILD    TRAINING 

portance  for  our  coniprchension  of  the  manifesta- 
tions of  human  heredity.  We  now  know  that  it  is 
not  chance  but  n  law  of  nature  which  causes  this 
or  that  quality  to  remain  constant  in  certain  species 
of  plants  and  animals,  and  which  causes  other 
qualities  now  to  appear,  now  to  disappear. 

Numerous  experiments  and  investigators  have 
shown  the  Mendelian  law  to  be  no  hypothesis,  but 
a  fact.  Since  there  can  be  no  special  law  of  nature 
which  will  apply  to  the  development  of  plants  and 
animals  and  not  to  the  development  of  man,  the 
application  of  the  Mendelian  law  to  human 
heredity  and  development  was  inevitable.  It  is 
true  this  fact  was  not  recognized  until  long  after 
Mendel's  death,  and  only  within  the  last  few 
years  has  this  law  received  close  attention.  Now 
it  is  generally  and  enthusiastically  recognized. 
According  to  certain  authors  the  occurrence  of 
brachydactylism,  polydactylism,  and  certain  color- 
ations of  the  skin,  hair  and  iris,  are  to  be  ex- 
plained by  means  of  the  Mendelian  law.  And 
since  we  know,  furthermore,  that  the  psychic 
manifestations  of  life  are  nothing  else  than 
functions  of  the  psychic  organs,  especially  of  the 
central  nervous  system,  it  is  in  the  highest  degree 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY       87 

probable  that  the  JMendcliaii  law  will  have  the 
same  applicability  to  the  hereditary  transmission 
of  psychic  properties  as  it  has  iu  relation  to  those 
peculiar  physical  traits  which  we  have  mentioned. 
Nevertheless,  it  seems  to  me  Bateson  goes  too 
far  when  he  says,  "Had  Mendel's  work  come  into 
the  hands  of  Darwin,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that 
the  history  of  the  development  of  evolutionary 
philosophy  would  have  been  very  different  from 
that  which  we  have  witnessed."  Above  all  we 
should  not  forget  that  it  is  only  a  surmise,  not  a 
proved  fact,  that  heredity  in  accordance  with  the 
rule  evolved  by  Mendel  takes  place  in  man.  The 
material  is  still  lacking  for  this  proof,  which  could 
be  obtained  only  by  the  construction  of  accurately 
elaborated  family  trees  of  different  races  and  of 
mixed  races.  An  opinion  of  value  could  be  formu- 
lated only  after  we  were  in  possession  of  a  large 
observational  material,  which  must  cover  many 
generations.  Then,  again,  I  do  not  believe  there 
is  an  essential  contradiction  between  Darwin  and 
Mendel.  Both  show  us  that  the  inheritance  of 
certain  properties  is  not  dependent  upon  accidental 
happenings,  and,  even  assuming  the  Mendelian  law 
to  be  applicable  in  its   full  extent   to   man,   the 


88  CHILD    TRAINING 

Darwinian  theory  of  evolution  would  in  no  way  be 
overthrown,  but,  on  the  contrary,  would  be  ampli- 
fied thereby.  Were  we  sure  of  this  applicability 
of  Mendel's  law,  we  could  with  fair  certainty  fore- 
tell how  the  offspring  of  parents  with  certain 
qualities  would  ultimately  develop;  but  for  the 
present  our  knowledge  in  this  regard  is  confined 
to  the  hereditary  transmission  of  constitutional 
anomalies.  With  Mendel's  law  once  established  in 
relation  to  man,  we  would  be  able,  by  applying  the 
two  rules  of  Mendel  (the  rule  of  maintenance  and 
the  rule  of  discontinuity)  to  influence  in  a  marked 
degree  the  development  of  future  generations ;  for, 
when  the  germ  cells  of  parents  having  certain 
characteristics  were  joined,  then  such  or  such  off- 
spring would  be  produced,  and  it  would  therefore 
only  be  necessary  to  bring  about  the  junction  of 
germ  cells  whose  product  would  conform  to  a 
favorable  prognosis.  On  the  other  hand,  we  would 
only  have  to  prevent  those  germ  cells  from  joining 
whose  product  would  furnish  an  unfavorable 
prognosis.  This  would  be  the  theoretical  side  of 
the  question. 

Practically,  however,   all   our  best-laid  calcula- 
tions would  frequently  be  overturned.     Above  all. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY      89 

love,  the  most  powerful  passion  next  to  hunger,  can 
not  be  commanded.  Then  again,  we  never  know 
to  what  conditions  of  life  the  experimental  off- 
spring will  be  subject.  These  conditions  may  be 
so  favorable  that  the  bad  prognosis  will  not  be 
fulfilled,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  they  may  be  so 
unfavorable  that  the  best  prognosis  will  be  nulli- 
fied. 

At  any  rate,  and  under  all  circumstances,  we 
would  in  all  probability  have  to  wait  for  many 
generations,  until  such  a  propagational  policy  had 
taken  root,  before  any  measurable  result  could  be 
observed.  So  long  as  all  the  surrounding  condi- 
tions are  unknown,  the  Mendelian  law  will  have 
but  the  same  value  for  the  purification  of  the 
human  race  as  meteorology  has  for  the  prognosti- 
cation of  the  weather.  As  is  well  known,  the  dis- 
appointments of  the  latter  are  not  infrequent,  not- 
withstanding that  all  theoretical  assumptions 
would  lead  us  to  expect  this  or  that  change  to 
take  place. 

In  my  opinion,  therefore,  the  chief  significance 
of  the  Mendelian  law  is  in  the  control  of  plant  and 
animal  development  by  means  of  a  crossing  of  dis- 
similar germ  cells  and  the  resulting  possibility  of 


90  CHILD    TRAINING 

maintaining  or  discontinuing  certain  (jualities 
through  suitalilc  selection  of  the  crossing  pairs. 
What  nature  effects  spontaneously  in  this  field  we 
are  to  do  experimentally — that  is,  by  artificially 
substituting  nature's  conditions.  These  conditions, 
however,  so  far  as  they  concern  the  development 
of  man,  are  still  too  little  known  to  permit  us  to 
hope  that  a  utilization  of  the  Mendelian  law  will 
enable  us  to  produce  a  permanency  or  an  increase 
of  desirable  qualities  in  our  offspring,  or  to  prevent 
a  transmission  of  detrimental  qualities. 

Still,  I  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  sketch  the 
problem  of  heredity  as  it  is  viewed  by  science  at 
its  present  stage.  Heredity  plays  a  most  import- 
ant role,  under  normal  as  well  as  under  abnormal 
conditions,  in  the  development  of  the  child's  mind. 
Let  us  not  strive  for  Utopian  conditions  but  let 
us  meet  the  facts  as  we  find  them.  Upon  the  one 
hand  we  must  guard  ourselves  against  an  over- 
estimation  of  the  Mendelian  law,  in  so  far  as  this 
law  has  found  its  application  to  man ;  upon  the 
other,  we  must  not  fail  to  do  anything  which  might 
counteract  the  transmission  of  hereditary  taint. 
To  guide  us  in  this  to  some  extent,  we  have  at 
hand  certain  tangible  facts  which  will  furnish  us 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY    91 

with  a  means  of  procedure.     These,  however,  must 
be  the  topic  of  a  subsequent  chapter. 

Let  us  now  return  to  the  development  of  the 
power  of  speech.     I  have  said  the  development  of 
speech  can  best  be  understood  by  means  of  the 
fundamental  law  of  biogenesis.     Speech  places  man 
far  above  every  animal.     But  just  as  man    once 
occupied   an   animal-like   plane,   and  just   as   this 
plane  still  finds  its  expression  in  the  human  embryo, 
which  during  its  first  weeks  can  hardly  be  dis- 
tinguished from  the  embryo  of  certain  animals,  so 
has  human   speech    originated    from    animal-like 
tones.     In  the  same  measure  as  the  higher  mental 
faculties  of   man   developed,    grew   the   need   for 
transmitting  his  thoughts  to  other  human  beings 
by  means  of  articulate  tones.     Articulate  speech 
then  became  for  him  not  only  a  medium  of  com- 
municating his  thoughts,  but  also  a  means  through 
which  the  development  and  growth  of  his  mind 
was  brought  about    and    facilitated.       With    the 
development  of  the  understanding  the  power  of 
articulate  speech  increased,  and  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  organs  of  speech,  adapted  to  the  in- 
creased demands  which  were  made  upon  them,  the 
faculty  of  thought  became  greater.     Just  as  the 


92  CHILD    TRAINING 

child  traverses  the  development  of  its  ancestors  the 
more  rapidly  the  better  they  have  been  equipped 
with  the  qualities  adapted  for  the  struggles  for 
existence;  so  under  correspondingly  favoring  cir- 
cumstances of  heredity  will  the  child  the  more 
rapidly  raise  itself  in  its  speech  development  from 
the  plane  of  animal-like  tones  to  the  capability  of 
expressing  itself  in  orderly  speech  and  in  musical 
notes.  A  less  generously  endowed  child,  however, 
will,  in  consequence  of  the  law  of  heredity,  require 
a  much  longer  time  to  traverse  the  single  stages 
of  developmental  history  in  its  own  development. 
And  it  may  well  be  that  such  an  individual  will 
persist  upon  a  lower,  animal-like  developmental 
plane,  and  be  able  to  give  vent  only  to  animal-like 
tones,  long  after  it  has  grown  up. 

In  order  to  speak  we  require  above  all  a  circle 
of  percepts,  which  are  interconnected  by  means  of 
"association";  an  additional  requisite  is  an  ap- 
paratus by  means  of  which  the  voice  can  be  pro- 
duced. This  vocal  organ,  the  musical  instrument 
of  man,  is  the  larynx.  The  voice,  however,  be- 
comes speech  only  when  the  inarticulate  tones  pro- 
duced by  the  larynx  have,  with  the  help  of  the 
palate,    the    tongue,    and   the    movements    of   the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  MENTAL  ACTIVITY    93 

mouth  and  lips,  been  transformed  into  articulate 
ones.  In  order  that  the  voice  may  be  formed  in 
the  larynx,  air  must  be  forced  through  the  trachea 
and  the  larynx,  so  that  the  vocal  cords  which  are 
stretched  within  it  may  be  thrown  into  tone- 
producing  vibrations. 

The  entire  vocal  apparatus  may  be  compared  to 
an  ordinary  whistle.  Its  constituent  parts  are: 
1.  The  tone-forming  body,  the  larynx,  to  whose 
anterior  and  posterior  walls  two  elastic  membranes, 
the  vocal  cords,  are  attached  in  such  a  way  that 
the  space  between  them  is  widened  or  narrowed 
as  the  air  passes  through  it.  2.  A  bellows,  the 
chest  and  the  lungs  within  it,  which  produces  the 
current  of  air.  3.  A  windpipe,  the  bronchus,  which 
carries  the  current  of  air  from  the  lungs  into  the 
trachea.  4,  An  attachment  piece,  the  oral  and 
nasal  cavity,  which  articulates  the  tones  and  con- 
ducts them  outward.  The  naso-pharynx  constitutes 
the  sounding-board  for  the  tones  which  arise 
through  the  vocal  cords  being  thrown  into  vibra- 
tion by  the  current  of  air,  which  passes  from  the 
lungs  in  varying  strength.  By  means  of  the  vary- 
ing position  of  the  soft  palate  and  its  connection 
with   the  nasal  passages,   this  sounding-board    is 


94  CHILD    TRAINING 

subject  to  diverse  modifications.  In  order  to  emit 
the  various  vowels  and  consonants  clearly  and 
purely,  certain  muscles  must  be  set  into  action, 
and  for  this  reason  the  teaching  of  correct  speech 
is  one  of  the  most  difficult  tasks  of  the  training 
art. 


IT.     THE   INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT 
OP   THE   CHILD 

Mere  modification  and  adaptation  of  the  physi- 
ologic-psychologic laws  which  govern  the  mind 
of  the  adult  will  never  enable  us  to  comprehend 
the  psychology  of  childhood.  The  child  is  not, 
bodily  or  mentally,  a  miniature  reproduction  of 
the  grown-up,  nor  can  psychology  of  childhood  be 
looked  upon  as  a  part  or  a  derivative  of  general 
psychology.  In  the  one  case  we  are  dealing  with 
a  finished  product,  in  the  other  with  something 
which  is  still  in  the  making.  For  this  reason  the 
psychology  of  childhood  is  governed  by  special 
principles  that  can  not  be  applied  to  a  consideration 
of  the  processes  which  make  up  the  mind  of  the 
adult.  Like  all  other  modern  outgrowths  of 
science,  child  psychology  bears  the  impress  of  the 
doctrine  of  evolution. 

The  basic  biogenetic  law,  as  formulated  by 
Haeckel,  that  ontogenesis,  the  development  of  the 
organism,  represents  the  curtailed  repetition  of 
phylogenesis,  the  development  of  the  race,  if  ap- 
plied to  psychic  activity,  would  mean  that  the 
mental  evolutional  process  of  the  human  race  is, 

95 


96  CHILD    TRAINING 

so  to  speak,  reproduced  in  the  stages  of  mental 
development  through  which  the  child  passes  from 
birth  to  maturity.  Already  at  its  birth  the  child 
is  endowed  with  instincts  and  attributes  which 
serve  for  the  maintenance  of  life.  To  that  extent 
it  resembles  a  primitive  organized  animal.  But 
even  during  its  first  year,  the  child's  progress  is 
astonishing.  A  comparison  of  the  new-born  child 
with  itself  at  the  end  of  the  first  year  will  show 
us  the  enormous  amount  accomplished  toward  its 
development  in  the  intervening  months.  In  that 
period  it  has  learned  to  stand,  to  move  its  body 
from  place  to  place  by  creeping,  and  in  many  in- 
stances even  to  take  the  first  independent  foot- 
steps. Articulate  speech  has  commenced ;  the  child 
is  able  to  recognize  people  around  it,  and  can 
designate  them  by  the  primitive  expressions  of 
baby-talk.  Memory,  will,  attention,  are  present  in 
their  most  simple  phases.  In  fact,  during  the 
first  year  it  has  already  acquired  the  entire  basic 
equipment  necessary  for  its  further  development. 
According  to  Wundt  and  Heller,  two  fundamental 
principles  characterize  the  mental  development  of 
the  child — progression  and  evolution. 

These  two  principles  have  compassed  the  ascent 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  97 

of  man  from  the  primal  state  of  nature  to  the 
present  height  of  culture,  and  it  is  they  that 
enable  the  mind  of  the  child  to  reproduce  within 
a  few  years  the  chief  stages  of  this  long  process  of 
racial  development. 

The  steady  developmental  advance  of  the  child, 
in  which  each  stage  forms  a  stepping-stone  to  the 
next  higher  one,  constitutes  the  principle  of  pro- 
gression. Let  us  exemplify  this  by  considering 
the  acquirement  of  locomotion.  After  the  first 
few  months  the  child  is  able  to  raise  its  body 
from  the  horizontal  posture  which  it  originally 
kept.  Later,  on  being  placed  upon  the  floor,  it 
experiences  a  desire  to  use  its  feet,  raises  itself 
upon  them,  and  momentarily  maintains  its  bal- 
ance. Soon,  however,  it  is  no  longer  satisfied 
simply  to  maintain  this  new  position,  and  has  the 
desire  to  move  from  place  to  place,  to  attain  a 
certain  goal.  Unable  to  coordinate  its  muscles 
properly  for  taking  steps,  the  child  creeps.  At- 
tempts at  walking  follow,  and  steady  progress 
soon  leads  to  independent  locomotion.  This 
methodic  sequence  characterizes  the  single  stages 
of  progression  involved  in  the  acquirement  of  the 
ability  to  walk. 


98  CHILD    TRAINING 

Speech  is  developed  in  a  similar  manner.  At 
first  the  child's  utterances  express  merely  the 
elementary  feelings  of  pleasure  or  displeasure. 
Next  the  child  imitates  the  speech  of  the  people 
about  it,  and,  as  a  result  of  the  increased  pro- 
ficiency acquired  by  the  organs  of  articulation 
through  practise,  the  production  of  sounds  be- 
comes more  manifold  and  more  distinct.  Then  the 
child  acquires  a  conception  of  the  relationship  be- 
tween sounds  and  the  impressions  which  they 
produce,  and,  comprehending  little  by  little  that 
certain  words  designate  certain  ideas,  it  learns  to 
use  speech  as  a  means  of  communication.  There- 
after the  sound  designations  or  the  sound  rela- 
tions, as  well  as  the  ideas  which  the  child  is  able 
to  convert  into  speech,  become  more  and  more 
manifold.  Similarly  the  development  of  the 
alimentary  apparatus  progresses  step  by  step. 
At  first,  through  the  congenital  sucking  and 
swallowing  reflexes,  the  ingestion  of  food  is  con- 
fined to  the  sucking  in  of  the  milk;  as  mushy  and 
more  solid  food  is  given,  the  child  acquires  the 
varied  movements  of  the  mouth  and  tongue  neces- 
sary for  the  comminution  of  such  food-stuffs.  We 
see,   therefore,   that   the   most   simple   method   of 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  99 

child  rearing  is  really  nothing  more  than  an 
adaptation  of  the  surroundings  to  the  principle 
of  progression. 

The  care  and  education  of  the  child  are  ration- 
al when  they  are  adapted  and  proportioned  to  the 
progress  permitted  by  nature,  when  they  ask 
neither  too  much  nor  too  little,  when  their 
demands  are  in  accord  with  the  preparation  that 
nature  has  made,  and,  fmally,  when  they  are  not 
over-cautious  or  unduly  timid  in  advancing  from 
a  stage  of  development  already  outgrown  to  the 
next  higher  one.  On  the  one  hand,  attempts  at 
walking  and  speech  training  should  not  be  under- 
taken, nor  solid  food  be  given  too  early,  while  on 
the  other,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  babble  with  a 
child  after  it  has  acquired  the  faculty  of  pro- 
ducing articulate  sounds,  to  withhold  solid  food 
too  long  for  fear  its  stomach  may  be  too  weak,  or 
to  restrain  it  too  long  from  attempting  to  walk — 
in  short,  to  treat  it  during  its  eighth  month  as 
tho  it  had  not  yet  passed  its  fourth.  I  am  in  full 
accord  with  Heller  when  he  says:  "That  inor- 
dinate love  which  is  bestowed  upon  many  children, 
which  guards  them  from  everything  disagreeable, 
and    enables    them    to    live    only    for    their    own 


100  CHILD    TRAINING 

gratification,  wliich  gives  them  onlj'  rights  and 
imposes  no  obligations,  is  followed  by  serious  con- 
sequences, restrains  progress  instead  of  promoting 
it,  and  causes  us  to  view  with  apprehension  the 
development  of  a  generation  brought  up  with  such 
extreme  tenderness  and  over-consideration.  There 
is  no  doubt  such  principles,  or  lack  of  principles, 
directly  cultivate  abnormalities  in  children  at  the 
instance  of  the  very  parents  whose  apparent  con- 
cern is  the  welfare  of  their  children.  In  addition 
to  fulfilling  its  actual  task  of  curing  abnormally 
predisposed  children  through  cultural  influences, 
remedial  pedagogy  has  still  another  duty  to  per- 
form, namely,  that  of  nullifying  by  means  of 
commensurate  methods  the  faults  of  training 
which  have  already  been  committed." 

Furthermore,  the  mental  life  of  the  child  is 
governed  by  the  principle  of  evolution.  We  can 
see  how  each  primitive  activity  develops  a  higher 
perfectedness.  The  various  stages  of  development 
do  not  stand  disjointly  side  by  side.  "Wliat 
primarily  was  only  play,  only  the  pleasure  of 
movement,  whether  of  the  organs  of  locomotion  or 
of  speech,  gradually  becomes  more  and  more 
deliberate  and  powerful.     The  activity  of  children 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  101 

soon  becomes  replete  with  manifold  movements 
expressive  of  pleasure  or  pain.  A  person  who 
follows  these  expressive  movements  attentively  will 
be  able  with  increasing  accuracy  to  distinguish 
differences  and  shadings.  The  first  attempts  at 
walking  are  awkward,  tentative,  disproportioned, 
and  after  a  few  steps  come  to  an  end.  Herein, 
also,  we  observe  how  increasing  practise  leads  to 
adjustment  for  distance  and  direction;  we  note 
how  a  function  originally  simple  becomes  more 
and  more  versatile  and  purposeful.  In  this 
development  we  find  not  only  a  realization  of  psy- 
chological but  also  of  physiological  operations. 
One  function  lays  the  way  for  another.  The 
child  learns  to  walk  and  thereby  helps  develop 
the  motor  centers  in  the  brain.  This  development 
having  progressed  to  a  certain  degree,  there  ensues 
the  training  and  growth  of  the  much  more  com- 
plicated center  for  the  organs  of  speech.  The 
rough  work  of  path  development  is  completed 
before  the  finer  work  of  brain  adjustment  sets  in. 
In  the  earlier  periods  is  accomplished  the  form- 
ation of  the  conducting  paths  of  that  larger  area 
of  the  brain  made  up  of  the  smaller  territories 
for  speech  audition  and  speech  movements.     Only 


102  CHILI)    TRAINING 

when  the  child  hears  itself,  controls  its  own, 
primarily  reflex,  vocal  movements,  does  that 
elaboration  in  the  brain  take  place  which  leads  to 
the  detailed  development  of  the  centers  for  speech 
audition  and  speech  movements.  During  the  first 
years  demands  are  made  only  upon  the  power  of 
cognition,  the  memory  of  the  child. 

Purposeful  and  direct  movements,  whether  em- 
ployed for  speaking,  for  walking,  for  the  pre- 
hension of  food,  for  touching  things  or  measuring 
them  with  the  ej^es,  leave  their  impress  upon  the 
mind  of  the  child.  These  impresses  become  more 
distinct  the  more  often  movements  are  executed, 
the  more  often,  whether  they  serve  the  same  or 
similar  purposes,  they  are  inwardly  associated. 

Side  by  side  with  this  memory  for  movement 
develops  the  memory  for  all  those  perceptions 
which  are  transmitted  by  the  sensory  organs.  In- 
numerable pictures  are  furnished  through  the 
sense  of  sight,  a  multitude  of  tones  and  noises 
enters  through  the  organ  of  hearing.  Less 
marked,  but  of  no  less  significance  for  the  mental 
constitution  of  the  child,  are  the  projections  of 
the  senses  of  taste,  smell,  and  touch.  Sensory  and 
motor  memories  enter  into  manifold  associations. 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  103 

The  uniform  development  of  both,  their  har- 
monious cooperation,  is  an  important  preliminary 
to  the  subsequent  mental  development  of  the 
child,  and  at  the  same  time  constitutes  an  im- 
portant aim  for  all  pedagogic  endeavor  during 
the  child's  earliest  years.  Once  this  has  been 
accomplished,  the  attention,  which  has  been  oper- 
ative in  its  relations  even  during  the  first  year, 
comes  to  the  fore.  During  the  first  year  the 
attention  is  restrained,  is  dependent  upon  sensory 
impressions;  it  is  directed  automatically,  so  to 
speak,  toward  those  impressions  which  enter  the 
child's  perceptional  sphere  with  dominating  in- 
tensity. Later  it  becomes  freer  and  freer.  Then 
through  the  voluntary  attention  the  child  bestows 
on  the  various  happenings  taking  place  about  it, 
these  are  placed  in  a  stronger  light  and  acquire 
greater  precision  and  distinctness.  Thus  the  at- 
tention causes  the  child  to  recognize  similarity  or 
dissimilarity,  resemblances  and  differences  in  its 
perceptions,  and  thereby  a  psychic  function  of 
higher  kind,  judgment,  is  developed.  With  the 
expansion  of  the  power  of  associating  more  and 
more  complicated  impressions,  the  child  finally 
becomes   independent    of   single    perceptions    and 


104  CHILD    TRAINING 

develops  a  progressively  maturing  understanding. 
Other  relationships,  no  less  important  or  funda- 
mental, are  added  to  those  governed  by  the  simi- 
larity or  dissimilarity  of  sensoiy  perceptions.  The 
recognition  of  causality,  of  the  relationship  of 
cause  and  effect,  of  premise  and  sequence,  takes 
place  when  the  perceptions  are  judged  by  their 
time  relationship  to  one  another,  and  not  just 
comparatively.  Gradually  the  child  learns  to 
adjust  its  own  activity  in  accordance  with  this 
relationship.  Its  activity  and  passivity  soon  be- 
come regulated  by  the  operation  of  a  definite  law 
— that  of  action  from  motive;  the  generation  of 
definite  activities  for  definite  purposes  comes  more 
and  more  into  the  foreground  of  the  child's  men- 
tal life.  The  development  of  the  highest  psychic 
function,  the  will,  is  based  upon  these  premises. 
While  the  volition  is  exercising  itself  in  a  definite 
direction,  bringing  forth  new  and  newer  motives 
in  the  mental  life  of  the  child,  a  definite  direction 
in  its  activities  also  becomes  evident.  Definite 
principles  are  acquired  and  these  become  molded 
in  accordance  with  the  ways  and  means  in  which 
the  child  conceives,  assimilates,  and  utilizes  its 
experiences.     Upon  this  basis  is  developed  char- 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  105 

acter  and  that  differentiation  of  psychic  life  which 
gives  to  every  individual  a  certain  stamp,  a 
special  identity. 

Were  there  no  source  other  than  sensory  per- 
ceptions from  which  it  could  obtain  its  ideas,  the 
conceptual  sphere  of  the  child  would  be  a  re- 
stricted one.  There  is,  however,  still  another 
psychic  function  which  kaleidoscopically  connects 
new  conceptions  gleaned  from  the  elements  of 
previously  acquired  concepts,  enables  the  child 
to  think  in  images  and  leads  it  into  a  domain  far 
beyond  that  constituted  by  actual  facts  and  ex- 
periences. This  mental  attribute  is  the  imagina- 
tion, and  in  the  earlier  years  of  childhood  it  is 
extraordinarily  vivid.  It  is  astonishing  what 
transformations  children  effect  with  the  perceptual 
and  conceptual  material  at  their  disposal,  how 
they  produce  new  ideas  with  almost  poetic  origi- 
nality, lend  life  to  every  object,  and  construct 
fantastic  worlds  of  their  own.  When  it  has 
reached  this  stage  of  mental  development  nothing 
can  give  a  child  more  pleasure  than  fairy  stories. 
I  can  but  agree  with  Heller  when  he  says,  "Only 
a  malevolent  or  distrustful  pedagogy  could  advo- 
cate   depriving    children    of    a    recital    of    fairy 


106  CHILD    TRAININa 

stories.  If  the  fantasy  of  children  is  not  supplied 
with  proper  stimuli  in  the  shape  of  good  fairy 
stories,  it  may  well  happen  that  their  imagery 
will  reign  unbridled,  that  their  inventions  will  be 
of  no  purpose  for  their  future  mental  develop- 
ment, and  may  even  be  injurious." 

I  might  add  that  the  exaction  of  some  pedagogs 
that  children  should  be  told  only  of  things  which 
actually  have  taken  place,  seems  to  me  to  be  going 
to  extremes.  The  imagination  is  present  in  the 
child,  and  calls  for  occupation  quite  as  much  as 
in  the  adult.  Surely  a  good  novel  furnishes  no 
less  enjoyment  to  us  because  we  know  it  is  not 
founded  on  fact.  What  the  novel  is  for  the  adult 
the  fairy  story  is  for  the  child.  Entertainment 
is  what  the  imagination  demands  and  all  criticism 
of  truth  and  fact  is  left  to  the  intellect.  An 
awakening,  an  annulment  of  the  illusions  pro- 
duced by  fairy  tales,  comes  soon  enough  of  itself 
without  our  doing  anything  to  bring  it  about. 

From  what  has  been  said  we  see  that  the 
memory  of  the  child  furnishes  the  constructive 
material,  produced  from  past  sensory  perceptions, 
for  the  varied  uses  of  the  intellect  and  the  im- 
agination.    As  yet,  however,  we  have  by  no  means 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  107 

exhausted  our  consideration  of  the  psychic  func- 
tions of  childhood,  for  a  complete  analysis  should 
include  the  emotional  life  of  the  child.     The  feel- 
ings of  gratification  and  displeasure  which  may  be 
recognized  as  already  existing  in  the  newly  born 
are,  so  to  speak,  the  sign-posts  of  a  future  mental 
development.     The    child    trends    toward    impres- 
sions which  gratify  it,  and  rebels  at  those  which 
are   disagreeable.     Pleasurable   sensations  impress 
themselves   with    special     distinctness    upon     the 
memory.     The    attention    is    turned    toward    con- 
cepts  which   are    pleasurably   colored — these,    for 
the  most  part,  furnish  the  motives  for  all  primi- 
tive acts.     Frequently  by  indirect  and  circuitous 
paths  the  child's  fantasy  seeks  the  same  end,  the 
attainment  of  pleasurable  feelings,  or  the  repul- 
sion of  disagreeable  ones.     Every  sensation,  every 
perception,  every  flow  of  ideas  has  its  own  special 
emotional  tone.     All  feelings  fluctuate  between  the 
two  opposites,  pleasure  and  displeasure.     Herein 
again  is  the  principle  of  evolution  revealed.     The 
emotions   become    more    refined,    more    and    more 
complicated ;  the  more  the  intellectual  development 
of  the  child  progresses,  the  further  are  the  feel- 
ings removed  from  a  crude  sensuality,  which  is 


108  CHILD    TRAINING 

replaced  by  esthetic  emotions — enjoyment  of  pic- 
tures, vocal  and  instrumental  music,  etc.  Thus 
we  see  how  the  entire  psychic  mechanism  of  the 
child  is  set  into  action  by  its  emotional  life,  and 
we  understand  why  psychological  interest  has 
again  become  more  or  less  centered  upon  the 
study,  so  long  neglected  by  our  older  school  of 
pedagogy  and  psychologists,  of  the  child's  emo- 
tions. 

A  special  position  in  the  mental  life  of  the 
child  is  occupied  by  its  social  feelings,  and  these 
constitute  a  most  advantageous  point  for  educa- 
tional attack.  Herbert  Spencer  has  emphasized 
the  fact  that  the  child  naturally  is  a  pronounced 
egotist,  and  in  its  emotional  life  resembles  people 
of  a  primitive  race,  "Were  it  not  for  the  adapt- 
ability of  the  child's  emotional  life  to  modifica- 
tion and  refinement  through  the  influence  of 
training,  this  condition  would  lead  to  most  de- 
plorable results,  and  degeneracy  would  be  the  rule 
instead  of  the  exception.  A  child  growing  up  in 
a  moral  community,  under  judicious  supervision 
and  rational  influence,  necessarily  obtains  a  certain 
social  training,  a  refinement  of  egotistic  attributes 
without    w^hich    the    harmonious    co-existence    of 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  109 

many  people  who  are  dependent  upon  each  other 
would  be  unthinkable.  Under  all  circumstances, 
and  from  the  earliest  possible  moment,  the  child 
must  be  made  to  subjugate  itself  to  general 
ethical  principles — it  must  be  taught  to  obey  even 
if  yet  unable  to  comprehend  the  value  to  itself  of 
obedience.  Example,  whether  good  or  bad,  pos- 
sesses vast  educational  influence.  Its  power,  how- 
ever, is  dependent  upon  the  imitative  impulse  of 
the  child.  Nothing  which  occurs  in  the  child's 
immediate  surroundings  passes  without  leaving  its 
mark.  Gestures,  expressions  of  emotion,  impress 
themselves  upon  the  mind  of  the  child  and  cling 
to  the  memory  as  conceptual  records,  which  be- 
come more  distinct  with  each  repetition.  Later 
in  life,  when  they  have  become  fixt  in  the  child's 
brain,  such  emotionally  tinged  concepts  usually 
become  the  motives  for  conduct  and  determine  the 
development  of  character  either  in  a  good  or  in 
a  bad  direction.  Instruction  in  childhood  must  be 
considered  one  of  the  most  important  factors  in 
the  training  of  mental  faculties.  Stress  must  be 
laid  not  so  much  on  the  inculcation  of  the  greatest 
possible  quantity  of  knowledge  and  skill  as  upon 
the  awakening  of  that  mental  spontaneity  which 


110  CHILD    TRAINING 

enables  the  child  to  think  independently  and, 
later,  to  so  direct  its  will  and  actions  that  they 
will  accord  with  the  principles  of  ethics.  The 
cultivation  of  a  moral  character,  of  one  which 
will  give  the  child  the  necessary  self-reliance, 
must  be  the  highest  aim  of  pedagogy.  The  child 
should  learn  that  certain  actions  are  good  altho 
they  run  counter  to  its  own  natural  wishes,  and 
that  certain  actions  are  reprehensible  even  when 
they  satisfy  its  selfish  desires. 

The  will  of  the  child  must  be  so  strengthened 
that  it  may  withstand  the  seductive  call  of  culp- 
able actions,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  it  may 
do  what  is  good  notwithstanding  its  original  in- 
clination to  act  otherwise.  The  feelings  of  pleasure 
and  displeasure  which  accompany  the  actions  of 
the  child  constitute  the  basis  for  the  development 
of  its  conscience,  that  inner  discernment  of  the 
good  or  the  bad.  The  child  must  leani  that  the 
feelings  which  it  experiences  are  produced  in 
others  as  well  by  corresponding  actions,  and  for 
this,  if  for  no  other  reason,  it  must  do  no  wrong 
but  only  good.  It  is  the  task  of  education  so  to 
fixate  these  concepts  through  practise  and  habit 
that,    in    a   given   instance,    they   will    come   into 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  111 

effect  automatically — as  inhibitory  concepts  for 
reprehensible  actions,  or  as  stimulating  concepts 
for  good  actions. 

While  at  first  the  child  mind  inevitably  connects 
self-control  and  freedom  with  the  concepts  of 
punishment  and  reward,  at  a  later  stage  it  must 
be  taught  to  recognize  that  true  moral  conduct 
consists  in  carrying  out  good  actions  for  their 
own  sake,  in  refraining  from  reprehensible  ones 
because  they  are  such,  without  consideration  of 
reward  or  punishment. 

In  order  to  show  that  other  influences  than 
those  of  teaching  and  percept  are  of  momentous 
import  in  the  development  of  the  character  of  the 
child,  Heller  points  to  the  contamination  and  pol- 
lution caused  by  sensational  literature.  It  is  a 
fact  that  pictorial  or  verbal  records  of  the  vilest 
crimes  often  do  not  produce  a  feeling  of  abhor- 
rence but  unfetter  the  lowest  instincts  and  pas- 
sions, thus  leading  to  acts  which  are  a  menace  to 
public  welfare.  In  children  of  little  will  power 
the  imitative  impulse  called  into  action  by  auto- 
suggestion has  an  important  bearing  upon  such 
aberrations  of  character.  For  this  reason  no 
warning   can    be    too    emphatic    against    allowing 


112  CHILD    TRAINING 

children  to  read  dime  novels  and  yellow  journals, 
)    or  to  visit  movmg-picture  shows  which  inordin- 
ately excite  imagination  and  thus  prejudice  moral 
\   development. 

The  statements  of  Wundt  regarding  the  traits 
which  distinguish  the  capacity  for  mental  culture 
are  very  interesting.  In  the  new-born,  according 
to  Wundt,  these  traits  consist  in  certain  bodily 
movements  which  outwardly  reflect  the  psychic 
processes  that  have  called  them  into  action.  These 
movements  already  bear  the  evident  character  of 
externalized  acts  of  the  will.  Thus,  for  instance, 
the  alimental  instinct  brings  about  bodily  move- 
ments which  tend  to  produce  an  augmentation  of 
the  pleasurable  feeling  caused  by  satiation  or  an 
abolition  of  that  displeasurable  sensation  caused 
by  hunger.  This  simple  psychic  happening,  in  a 
certain  sense,  justifies  the  supposition  that  a 
consciousness  already  exists. 

Wundt  calls  consciousness  an  "inner  seeing." 
But,  as  we  know,  all  sight  impressions  do  not 
take  place  with  equal  clearness  and  distinctness, 
the  two  latter  depending  upon  whether  the  im- 
pressions reach  only  the  periphery  of  the  visual 
field,  the  macula  lutea,  or  its  center,  the  fixation 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  113 

point.  The  closer  they  approach  the  fixation 
point,  the  position  of  most  distinct  vision,  the 
clearer  are  the  pr^ceptions,  and  the  more  they 
are  removed  from  this  point  the  more  indistinct 
they  become.  The  same  rule  applies  in  the  vari- 
ous contents  of  our  consciousness.  Only  a  minimal 
number  of  the  contents  are  brought  to  or  reach  a 
clear  perception,  figuratively  speaking,  in  the 
fixation  point  of  consciousness,  while  the  greater 
proportion  remains  obscured.  The  entrance  of  a 
concept  into  the  ''visual"  field  of  consciousness  is 
designated  by  Wundt  as  perception,  the  entrance 
into  the  fixation  point  as  apperception.  The 
latter,  by  means  of  the  attention,  announces  itself 
as  an  inner  happening.  The  state  of  attention, 
inseparably  connected  with  apperception,  is  called 
active  when  the  process  of  apperception  is  asso- 
ciated with  a  feeling  of  self-performance.  It  is 
called  passive,  on  the  other  hand,  when  a  psychic 
happening,  so  to  say,  forces  itself  upon  us,  and 
thus  produces  in  us  a  feeling  of  submission. 

Assuming  the  organs  of  special  sense,  the  sen- 
sory nerves  and  the  sensory  centers,  to  be  intact, 
not  only  perception  but  also  apperception  should 
result  under  normal  conditions.     Nevertheless,  in 


114  CHILD    TRAINING 

many  children  the  contents  of  consciousness  do 
not  rise  to  clearness  and  distinctness.  Such  chil- 
dren, for  instance,  do  not  fixate  any  object,  even 
when  it  enters  the  visual  field  with  the  utmost 
distinctness.  In  other  words,  they  are  wanting  in 
apperceptional  capacity.  The  contents  of  con- 
sciousness remain  perceptionally  isolated  and, 
therefore,  can  not  be  brought  into  those  manifold 
relationships  which  form  the  basis  of  all  activity 
of  the  mind.  Under  these  circumstances  no  ex- 
perience, not  even  of  the  most  primitive  kind, 
takes  place,  and  even  the  constant  recollection  of 
an  idea  does  not  leave  behind  it  a  clear  sensory 
picture.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  such  children, 
altho  their  sensory  apparatus  may  be  normal, 
must  be  placed  on  a  par  psychically  with  those 
who,  through  defects  of  their  sensory  apparatus, 
are  rendered  incapable  of  receiving  sensory  im- 
pression. 

The  mental  capacity  for  development  is  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  apperceptional  power. 
Whether  this  is  present  may  be  determined  best 
in  accordance  with  "Wundt's  law  of  correspondence 
of  apperception  and  fixation.  This  law  shows  that 
the  visual  lines  of  the  normal  organ  of  sight,  by 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  115 

means  of  a  surely  acting  mechanism,  become 
focused  upon  that  object  toward  which  the  atten- 
tion is  directed.  If  no  object,  even  when  its  rays 
fall  upon  the  point  of  clearest  vision  on  the  retina 
of  the  eye,  is  capable  of  exciting  attention,  then 
that  determining  impulse  to  fixation  which  arises 
from  the  endeavor  to  obtain  a  clear  picture  of  the 
object  is  wanting,  and  no  apperceptional  power 
can  exist;  consequently,  also,  all  those  mental  pro- 
cesses which  we  designate  as  power  of  recollection, 
formation  of  concepts  and  judgment,  become  im- 
possible. Later  on  w'e  will  recur  to  this  law  of 
Wundt,  which  is  of  great  importance  in  the  ques- 
tion of  the  educability  of  idiots. 

Experimental  psychology  makes  use  of  peri- 
metry, tests  the  visual  field,  in  order  to  establish 
the  fatigability  of  the  brain.  Every  mental  exer- 
tion produces  a  degree  of  fatigue  in  the  brain 
which  finds  its  expression  in  a  restriction  of  the 
visual  field.  Inasmuch  as  the  solving  of  one  and 
the  same  problem  requires  mental  exertion  of 
varied  intensity  in  children  of  varied  endowment, 
fatigue  of  the  brain,  with  its  attendant  restriction 
of  the  visual  field,  will  occur  more  rapidly  in  one 
child,  more  slowly  in  another.     By  means  of  peri- 


116  CHILD    TRAINING 

metry,  therefore,  we  can  ascertain  the  degree  of 
apperceptional  power  and  of  mental  capacity  for 
development. 

By  far  the  most  reliable  method  for  the  eval- 
uation of  a  child's  intelligence,  however,  is  the 
series  of  tests  evolved  by  Binet  and  Simon.  By 
means  of  these,  it  has  been  said  by  a  recent 
writer,  the  psj'^chologist,  after  forty  minutes' 
examination,  can  obtain  a  more  enlightening  esti- 
mate of  a  child's  intelligence  than  can  be  reached 
by  most  teachers  in  a  year  of  contact  in  the 
schoolroom.  These  intelligence  tests  consist  in 
asking  the  child  a  series  of  carefully  chosen 
questions  which  can  be  answered  by  normal  chil- 
dren of  average  intelligence.  The  questions  are 
graded  in  accordance  with  the  intelligence  at 
different  ages  of  normal  children.  If  the  answer 
of  the  child  under  examination  corresponds  to  tlie 
standard  of  intelligence  for  its  own  age,  then  it 
is  designated  as  normal.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
can  answer  only  those  questions  which  correspond 
to  the  powers  of  comprehension  and  to  the  con- 
ceptual sphere  of  younger  children,  then  in  pro- 
portion to  the  difference  in  age  between  it  and 
the  class  which  normally  is  able  to  answer  those 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  117 

questions,  it  is  classified  as  retarded,  imbecile  or 
idiotic.  For  example,  a  child  twelve  years  of  age 
having  only  the  conceptual  powers  of  a  normal 
child  of  nine  would  have  to  be  classed  as  imbecile. 
Of  course,  neither  this  nor  any  other  method  will 
test  a  child's  intelligence  with  mathematical 
precision. 

Let  us  now  take  up  the  development  of  the 
faculty  of  speech.  While  it  must  be  admitted 
that  speech  is  not  unrestrictedly  essential  for  a 
primitive  mental  development,  it  is  certain  that 
every  higher  intellectual  activity  is  bound  up  with 
the  existence  of  vocal  ability.  Close  observation  of 
a  child  learning  to  talk  shows  us  that  the  intellect 
can  give  precision  to  its  indefinite  primitive  ideas 
and  develop  itself  only  by  means  of  the  spoken 
word.  Between  the  development  of  the  intellect 
and  the  development  of  speech  there  exists  a  close 
interaction.  The  speech  impulse  becomes  active 
only  when  the  child  is  able  clearly  to  differentiate 
individual  objects  about  it.  In  the  earliest  period 
of  its  life  the  objects  appearing  in  its  field  of 
vision  flow  together  into  a  diffuse  whole.  At  the 
commencement  of  its  speech  development  the  child 
recognizes  only  single  objects.     It  has  as  yet  no 


118  CHILD    TRAINING 

understanding  of  the  manifold  occurrences  of  the 
outer  world  and,  therefore,  it  can  designate  by 
means  of  speech  only  that  which  it  understands — 
namely,  single  objects.  Two  imperfections  of 
speech  occur,  either  of  which  may  be  present  as  a 
manifestation  of  natural  development  or  as  a 
symptom  of  disease;  these  are  stammering  and 
agrammatism.  The  stammering  of  small  children 
consists  in  the  use  of  certain  tones  which  they  are 
unable  to  form,  or  in  substituting  for  them  other 
tones  with  which  they  are  familiar.  This  "physio- 
logical stammering"  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
child's  vocal  organs  are  as  yet  inapt  and  not 
capable  of  bringing  forth  difficult  tone  formations, 
and  to  the  fact  that  the  hearing  of  the  child  is 
not  yet  sufficiently  skilled  to  distinguish  similar 
sounding  tones  from  one  another.  Agrammatism 
occurs  normally  as  a  lower  form  of  speech  develop- 
ment in  children  two  or  three  years  of  age ;  until 
they  have  acquired  the  power  of  using  connected 
sentences  they  use  single  words  instead  of  sen- 
tences, or  bring  together  the  single  words  with 
which  they  are  familiar  without  any  intermediary 
link.  With  an  increased  speech  comprehension  the 
endeavor    to   express    ideas    in    varying   relations 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  119 

becomes  manifest,  and  for  this  reason  the  speech 
at  the  end  of  the  third  year  gives  evidence  of  more 
fluency.  At  this  stage  of  development  children  are 
able  to  make  themselves  sufficiently  understood  but 
do  not  unite  their  words  with  grammatical 
accuracy.  In  feeble-minded  children  stammering 
and  agrammatism,  therefore,  represent  nothing 
more  than  a  halt  at  this  stage  of  development. 
In  the  normal  child  development  continues ;  it  con- 
stantly gains  new  ideas  of  the  quantitive  and 
qualitive  conditions  of  things,  of  their  relationships 
to  space  and  time ;  it  searches  for  a  verbal  expres- 
sion of  these  distinctions  and  finds  it  in  the  speech 
which  the  people  of  its  surroundings  employ.  As 
a  result  of  this  imitative  impulse,  the  child  uses 
the  speech  of  adults  without  at  first  understanding 
the  significance  of  the  words  it  employs.  Little  by 
little  the  child,  learning  through  experience  that 
these  words  have  a  direct  relationship  to  certain 
happenings  in  the  outer  world,  is  stimulated  to 
reflection. 

In  this  sense  speech  is  actually  a  spur  to  logical 
thought.  It  will  be  understood,  therefore,  how 
defective  development  of  speech  will  react  detri- 
mentally upon  all  mental  progress.     It  is  a  pre- 


120  CHILD    TRAINING 

requisite  for  every  higher  mental  development  that 
the  processes  of  thought  mechanize  themselves 
equably;  the  further  the  mental  development  pro- 
gresses, the  less  mental  energy  is  required  for  an 
estimate  of  the  exterior  conditions.  The  means  to 
this  end  is  furnished  by  the  fact  that  speech  holds 
ready  for  use  certain  verbal  expressions  which  are 
employed  without  each  time  necessitating  the 
activation  of  the  corresponding  logical  processes. 
Therefore  speech  is  the  most  important  expedient 
for  the  perfection  of  thought.  The  child  that  is 
incapable  of  imitating  the  speech  of  mentally 
developed  persons  lacks  the  stimulus  necessary  for 
the  development  of  its  intellectual  powers,  and 
must  remain  mentally  backward. 

In  the  main  we  can  differentiate  three  forms  of 
speech  expressions — verbal,  written  and  gestural. 
The  last  must  be  designated  as  the  most  primitive 
form  of  speech ;  it  is  not  adapted  for  the  expression 
of  a  higher  logical  thought.  In  verbal  speech  two 
processes  must  be  considered — firstly,  speech  under- 
standing, which  in  the  child  is  limited  to  a  very 
small  circle  of  ideas ;  secondly,  spontaneous  speech, 
which  the  child  attains  by  means  of  mechanical 
vocal  imitation.     In  the  beginning  the  child  cer- 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  121 

tainly  does  not  differentiate  between  vocal  sounds 
and  other  sounds  or  noises.  At  first  it  imitates 
indiscriminately  everything  which  reaches  its  ears 
repeatedly.  Speech  sounds  become  differentiated 
from  other  sounds  only  when  the  development  of 
apperceptional  power  has  reached  a  certain  stage. 

The  perceptual  center  for  the  expression  of 
vocal  sounds  is  called  the  sensory  speech  center. 
The  child's  tendency  to  imitate  not  only  speech 
sounds  but  also  various  other  sounds  and  noises 
must  be  looked  upon  as  a  manifestation  of  an 
innate  impulse  to  react  in  a  motor  way,  so  far  as 
this  is  possible,  to  every  sense  impression.  Since 
the  motor  excitations  which  result  from  a  reception 
of  the  speech  sounds  recur  with  every  fresh  sen- 
sory impression,  there  is  formed  a  motor  center  for 
speech  in  addition  to  the  already  existing  sensory 
one.  At  first  the  motor  center  is  dependent  upon 
the  sensory  one,  inasmuch  as  a  stimulus  must 
alwaj^s  be  sent  from  the  sensory  center  to  the  motor 
one  in  order  to  bring  about  those  speech  movements 
which  find  their  expression  in  the  spoken  word. 
With  increasing  practise,  however,  the  motor  cen- 
ter in  the  normal  child  becomes  more  and  more 
independent  of  the  sensory  center.  As  early  as  in  the 


122  CHILD    TRAINING 

second  year  of  life  the  mental  development  of  the 
child  has  reached  a  stage  where  speech  expression 
is  no  longer  exclusively  dependent  upon  external 
influences,  but  reflects  an  endeavor  to  bring  the 
ideas  which  the  child  has  into  connection  with  each 
other.  In  this  manner  the  child  makes  use  of  speech 
as  an  expression  of  its  thoughts.  The  speech  move- 
ments are  no  longer  incited  through  the  mechanical 
imitative  impulse  but  through  the  impulse  of  the 
will.  Those  involuntary  excitations  of  the  motor 
speech  center  by  the  sensory  speech  center  which 
correspond  to  a  primitive  development  of  con- 
sciousness, then  constitute  exceptional  occurrences. 
Very  justly  Heller  insists  that  it  is  contrary  to 
the  spirit  of  pedagogy  to  impart  to  pupils  knowl- 
edge which  transcends  the  bounds  of  their  powers 
of  understanding.  Naturally  every  teacher  would 
show  by  tangible  results  that  he  has  been  able  to 
impart  a  certain  sum  of  knowledge  to  his  pupils. 
I  have  repeatedly  pointed  out  that  many  psy- 
chically defective  children  possess  a  remarkably 
good  memory.  This  peculiarity  is  not  without 
decided  danger  to  the  teacher.  Such  pupils  may 
memorize  a  certain  quantity  of  isolated  things 
which  they  have  heard  or  read.     They  are,  how- 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  123 

ever,  unable  to  connect  them  associatively  and  to 
assimilate  them  mentally.  Even  questions  dex- 
terously asked  may  fail  to  disclose  this  incapability, 
and  consequently  the  impression  may  be  thus 
aroused  that  the  children  really  have  some  defin- 
ite knowledge.  The  teacher  must  not  allow  him- 
self to  be  tempted  to  try  and  impress  the  observer, 
unfamiliar  with  psychically  defective  children  with 
a  lot  of  instructional  matter  which  has  been  con- 
veyed to  them  without  plan  or  system,  and  which 
has  been  absorbed  by  a  pure  feat  of  memory. 
Of  course,  in  such  cases,  the  teacher  must  not  be  con- 
sidered wilfully  deceptive,  for  he  himself  may  have 
been  misled  by  a  child  that  has  concealed  its  nar- 
row mental  horizon  through  parrotlike  repetition 
of  mechanically  acquired  phrases. 

The  want  of  independent  thought  must  be  uncov- 
ered by  means  of  intelligence  tests  periodically 
instituted.  Hence  it  is  of  great  importance  that 
every  pedagog  become  intimately  conversant  with 
the  Binet-Simon  test  already  mentioned.  Accord- 
ing to  Goddard,  the  failures  which  have  been  noted 
by  some  authors  and  which  have  led  to  an  erro- 
neous classification  of  the  children  subjected  to 
this  test  are  to  be  ascribed,  in  great  part,  to  an 


124  CHILD    TRAINING 

incorrect  manner  of  questioning.  If,  for 
instance,  lines  of  different  lengths  or  figures  of 
different  sizes  are  shown  to  the  pupil,  the  teacher 
must  not  ask:  "Which  is  the  shorter  line,  the 
larger  figure,"  etc.  Such  questions  call  the  pupil's 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  lines  are  of  different 
length,  the  figures  of  different  size,  which  otherwise 
it  might  not  have  noted.  The  question  should  be, 
*'What  do  you  see  here?"  and  the  child's  own 
impulse  of  investigation  and  its  own  apperceptional 
power  should  lead  it  to  discover  what  we  desire  it  to 
find.  Or  if,  for  instance,  the  examiner  shows  the 
child  a  reproduction  of  Millet's  "Angelus" — a 
picture  in  which  Breton  peasants,  at  the  sound  of 
the  evening  bells,  interrupt  their  field  work,  fold 
their  hands,  and  bend  their  heads  in  prayer — it 
would  be  entirely  wrong  to  ask,  "What  are  the 
persons  in  this  picture  doing. ' '  Instead  the  teacher 
should  ask,  "What  do  you  see  here?"  One  pupil, 
perhaps,  will  merely  see  a  mixture  of  colors,  with- 
out obtaining  any  clear  conception  of  what  they 
mean;  another  may  see  the  cornfield  and  the  agri- 
cultural implements,  but  not  the  people;  still  an- 
other may  see  the  people  without  understanding 
why  they  have  their  hands  folded.     If  at  the  start 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  125 

we  were  to  ask,  ''What  are  the  persons  upon  this 
picture  doing?"  every  child  being  tested  would 
immediately  direct  its  attention  to  the  human 
figures,  which  otherwise  might  have  gone  un- 
observed, and  will  see  that  the  hands  are  folded, 
an  action  which  also  might  have  escaped  the  pupil 's 
notice.  Through  such  misjudgment  in  questioning 
it  might  happen  that  tho  intelligence  of  the  child, 
and  conjointly  its  Binet-age,  would  be  estimated 
to  be  higher  than  it  would  have  been  had  the  ques- 
tions been  correctly  put.  In  order  to  avoid  errors 
of  this  kind  and  to  classify  the  pupils  according 
to  their  actual  intelligence,  it  is  necessary,  there- 
fore, to  word  the  questions  so  that  nothing  may  be 
suggested  to  the  children  which  otherwise  would 
have  escaped  their  attention.  Hence  it  is  advisable 
for  the  teacher  to  study  the  Binet-method  v/ith 
care  and  attention,  but  not  to  adhere  slavishly  to 
the  questions  that  Binet  himself  has  selected. 

Much  as  I  value  the  Binet-test,  provided  the 
teacher  understands  how  to  formulate  the  questions 
properly,  I  would  lay  stress  upon  the  importance 
of  other  psychic  methods  of  examination,  for  in 
psychically  defective  children  the  question  pre- 
sented is  not  only  of  disorders  of  intelligence  but 


126  CHILD    TRAININa 

as  a  rule  of  a  pathological  alteration  of  the  entire 
mentality.  Frequently  psychopathically  inferior 
children  will  be  found  more  intelligent  than  other 
children  of  their  own  age,  and  therefore  they  are 
classed  in  a  higher  intellectual  grade  than  that 
which  accords  with  the  normal  Binet-age.  I  have 
observed  many  such  instances,  and  each  time  the 
question  has  arisen,  What  is  to  be  done  with  these 
abnormal  children?  Notwithstanding  their  intel- 
lectual qualities,  which  frequently  are  even  above 
the  average,  they  do  not  belong  in  the  public  schools 
and  still  less  in  the  auxiliary  classes  or  schools  for 
deficient  children.  Usually  they  are  inordinately 
egoistic,  mendacious,  revengeful,  or  afflicted  with 
criminal  instincts  which  can  be  controlled  only  by 
means  of  proper  treatment  in  institutions  especi- 
ally equipped  for  this  purpose. 

From  what  we  have  said  before  it  is  evident  the 
Binet-test  enables  us  to  ascertain  whether  a  child 
possesses  the  power  of  comprehension  which  cor- 
responds to  its  actual  age,  whether  it  has  pro- 
gressed further  than  its  normal  companions  of  the 
same  age,  or  whether  it  has  remained  behind  them 
intellectually.  Of  itself,  however,  the  Binet-test  is 
not  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  form  a  positive  opinion 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  127 

regarding  the  entire  mental  life  of  the  child.  The 
essential  differentiating  marks  for  psychically 
deficient  children,  as  compared  with  normal  chil- 
dren, are  the  lessened  power  of  resistance,  the 
more  rapid  fatigability,  and  the  greater  exhaustion 
of  the  brain.  The  failings  are  also  present  in 
highly  intelligent  psychopathic  inferior  children, 
and  it  is  by  them  that  such  children  may  be  un- 
mistakably recognized  even  when  they  show  no 
signs  of  abnormality  in  their  psychic  comportment. 
Intelligence  tests  must,  therefore,  always  be  supple- 
mented by  fatigue  measurements;  even  when,  in 
accordance  with  the  Binet-test,  two  children  of  the 
same  age  answer  the  same  questions  with  equal 
accuracy,  the  time  they  have  required  to  formulate 
their  replies  must  be  considered  in  order  to  classify 
them  properly.  The  child  that  answers  the  more 
promptly  thereby  shows  it  is  less  fatigable  and 
must  be  assumed  to  possess  a  higher  degree  of 
intelligence.  In  the  beginning,  perhaps,  the  psycho- 
pathically  tainted  child  answers  the  more  promptly, 
but  when  the  test  is  protracted  it  soon  shows  it  is 
tiring  and  permits  the  normal,  less  fatigable  child 
to  forge  ahead.  De  Sanctis  lays  great  stress  upon 
the  importance  of  carrying    out    the    intelligence 


128  CHILD    TRAININa 

tests  with  sufficient  comprehensiveness  and  for  a 
sufficiently  long  time  to  ascertain  to  what  degree 
the  tested  child  tires.  Assuming  the  demands  made 
upon  all  children  to  have  been  the  same,  those 
will  receive  the  highest  evaluation  of  intelligence 
who,  at  the  end  of  the  test,  are  still  the  least 
fatigued  mentally.  While  such  tests  enable  us  only 
to  estimate  the  degree  of  fatigue,  more  definite  con- 
clusions can  be  arrived  at  through  graphic  measure- 
ments obtained  by  the  use  of  perimetry,  supple- 
mented by  the  ascertainment  of  the  reaction  time. 
These  investigations,  however,  require  much  time, 
and  call  for  technical  aids  which  are  not  always 
at  hand. 

A  very  simple  expedient,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
the  esthesiometric  test,  which  consists  in  placing 
an  esthesiometer — an  instrument  similar  to  an  or- 
dinary drawing  compass — with  its  points  separated 
from  each  other  upon  any  part  of  the  surface  of 
the  body,  and  then  bringing  more  closely  together 
or  still  farther  separating  the  two  branches  of  the 
instrument  until  the  points  can  still  just  be  dis- 
tinguished as  two  separate  tactile  impressions. 
Upon  the  ends  of  the  finger  of  a  normal  person  the 
two  points  of  the  instrument  can  be  recognized  as 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  129 

two  pricks  or  pressure-sensations  when  separated 
two  millimeters  from  each  other.  Upon  the  back 
of  the  hand  they  can  be  so  recognized  when  thirty- 
one  millimeters  apart,  and  upon  the  skin  of  the 
upper  arm  they  are  not  so  perceived  until  the 
distance  between  the  points  has  reached  sixty-one 
millimeters.  The  greater  the  fatigue  of  the  brain 
the  further  must  the  points  of  the  esthesiometer 
be  separated  in  order  that  they  may  be  perceived 
as  two  separate  sensations.  Assuming  children  of 
the  same  age  to  have  undergone  the  same  degree 
of  exertion,  one  of  them  may  perceive  the  two 
points  upon  the  end  of  the  finger  at  a  distance  of 
three  millimeters  from  each  other  as  two  separate 
excitations,  while  in  another  the  two  points  will 
produce  but  a  single  sensation  when  three  milli- 
meters apart,  and  may  have  to  be  separated  to 
four  millimeters  or  more  before  the  sensation  of 
two  stimuli  is  produced.  The  latter  child,  there- 
fore, as  is  shown  by  its  reduced  apperceptional 
capability,  has  been  far  more  fatigued  by  the 
exertion  than  the  other  child.  The  fact  that  two 
children  in  a  thoroughly  rested  state  recognize  the 
two  points,  applied  to  the  ends  of  the  fingers  at 
a  spread  of  two  millimeters,  as  two  distinct  tactile 


130  CHILD    TRAINING 

impressions,  by  no  means  proves  that  both  have 
the  same  normal  apperceptional  capability.  The 
significant  and  decisive  factor  must  always  be  the 
repetition  of  the  test  after  a  certain  amount  of 
work  has  been  accomplished  by  them,  for  a  measure 
by  which  the  pathological  can  be  estimated  can 
be  obtained  only  through  a  comparison  with  the 
normal. 

Hence  esthesiometry,  employed  both  before  and 
after  instruction,  may  give  us  a  wealth  of  informa- 
tion. Above  all,  it  will  enable  us  to  recognize 
whether  the  children  have  normal  skin  sensations. 
It  is  possible  that,  even  in  a  rested  state,  all  chil- 
dren may  not  perceive  the  two  points  of  the  in- 
strument at  a  spread  of  only  two  millimeters  as 
two  different  stimuli.  For  some  of  them,  the  points 
might  have  to  be  still  further  separated  in  order 
to  be  so  perceived.  This,  then,  would  indicate  an 
abnormal  state.  Moreover,  it  would  be  distinct 
evidence  of  a  pathological  condition  were  a  child 
unable  even  to  designate  the  place  upon  the  skin  to 
which  the  points  of  the  instrument  had  been  ap- 
plied. 

The  sensation  of  two  stimuli  produced  by  the 
two  points  of  the  esthesiometer  when  two  milli- 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  131 

meters  apart,  probably  becomes  altered  in  all  chil- 
dren by  the  end  of  an  instruction  period  into  a 
perception  of  a  single  excitation.  This  is  entirely 
normal.  Only  when  the  two  points  of  the  instru- 
ment— which,  ordinarily,  after  a  certain  amount  of 
exertion  are  appreciated  as  such  when  three  milli- 
meters apart — must  be  separated  six  millimeters  or 
more  in  order  to  be  so  perceived,  can  there  be  any 
question  of  pathological  brain  fatigue.  Thus  the 
teacher  is  able  not  only  to  estimate  the  degree  of 
fatigue  in  the  various  children,  but  by  means  of 
esthesiometry,  combined  with  other  psychic 
methods  of  examination,  to  obtain  a  positive  meas- 
ure of  each  one's  efficiency.  By  means  of  fatigue 
measurements,  he  can  at  all  times  determine 
whether  the  instruction  is  adapted  to  the  child's 
capabilities  or  whether  too  great  demands  are 
being  made.  This  is  of  extraordinary  importance. 
Ambitious  teachers  would  like  to  parade  the  pro- 
gress which  their  children  are  making  but  are 
likely  to  overlook  the  fact  that  the  apparent  pro- 
gress at  the  expense  of  overtaxation  is  in  reality 
retrogression.  The  real  significance  of  "overbur- 
dening" becomes  evident  only  through  fatigue 
measurements.     Overburdening  is  not  necessarily  a 


132  CHILD    TRAINING 

transgression  of  average  requirements.  Children 
may  be  overburdened  without  iiarmful  effect  when 
less  is  required  of  them  than  is  usually  expected 
of  normal  children.  Overburdening  signifies  an 
excess  only  in  its  relation  to  the  child's  power  of 
comprehension,  and  this  may  be  large  or  it  may 
be  small.  The  psychic  tests  enable  us  constantly 
to  know  whether  a  child  is  overburdened  or  not. 
Especially  is  this  proved  by  the  results  of  fatigue 
measurements.  When  these  show  the  child  to  be 
overtaxed,  then  either  the  method  of  instruction  is 
wrong  or  demands  are  being  made  npon  the  child 
which  far  transcend  its  capabilities.  In  that  case 
the  plan  of  instruction  must  be  altered,  the  amount 
of  knowledge  conveyed  must  be  restricted.  Human 
society  is  far  better  served  when  children  learn 
less  but  have  thorough  knowledge  of  what  they 
have  been  taught,  than  when  they  enter  upon  the 
struggle  for  existence  equipped  with  a  mass  of 
undigested  facts  and  a  body  weakened  by  overtax- 
ation. 

We  have  now  become  acquainted  with  two 
methods  which  enable  us  to  apply  the  principle  of 
individualization  to  training  and  instruction  in 
children.     The  Binet-test  makes  it  possible  for  us 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  133 

to  classify  the  children  correctly  according  to  their 
various  degrees  of  intelligence.  By  means  of  it  we 
learn  where  to  start  with  the  child  and  what  may 
be  required  of  it;  but  by  means  of  the  fatigue 
measurements,  we  are  constantly  able  to  deter- 
mine, in  addition,  whether  the  method  of  instruc- 
tion is  one  adapted  to  the  child's  capacity.  When 
the  fatigability  of  the  brain  decreases,  we  may  be 
sure  the  particular  method  of  instruction  can 
facilitate  the  child's  acquisition  of  knowledge;  but 
when  the  fatigability  of  the  brain  increases,  the 
teacher  at  once  has  a  warning  that  there  must  be 
some  error  in  his  method.  This  error,  it  will 
always  be  found,  is  an  overestimation  of  the  child 's 
individual  conceptual  capacity. 

Mme.  Montessori  has  shown  us  that  we  can  in- 
dividualize without  employing  a  special  teacher  for 
every  pupil.  Likewise  Seguin — whose  premise  in 
training  children  was  "So  many  children,  so  many 
anomalies" — was  a  master  in  the  art  of  individual- 
ization, despite  the  fact  that  experimental  psy- 
chology at  his  time  was  still  in  its  infancy.  We 
must  merely  guard  against  the  error  of  dividing 
the  human  race  into  normal  and  abnormal  indi- 
viduals.    As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  just  as 


134  CHILI)    TRAINING 

many  classes  and  subdivisions  as  there  are  human 
beings.  Differentiation  is  the  characteristic  of 
higher  development.  In  the  lower  stage  of  develop- 
ment, the  individual  specimens  of  a  plant  or  the 
individual  animals  of  a  species  can  be  differen- 
tiated only  with  difficulty.  In  the  lower  races,  the 
same  holds  true  for  human  beings;  but  the  more 
highly  an  organism  is  developed,  the  more  do  the 
single  specimens  acquire  a  special  impress.  But 
this  differentiation,  which  becomes  fixt  through 
heredity,  involves  not  only  healthy  but  also  diseased 
characteristics ;  and  because  that  which  is  diseased 
or  that  which  is  healthy  gradually  assumes  a  fixity 
of  character,  no  sharp  line  of  demarcation  can  be 
drawn  between  the  normal  and  the  pathological, 
and  we  must  look  upon  the  numerous  transitional 
forms,  from  the  evidently  healthy  to  the  pro- 
nouncedly diseased,  as  a  mixture  of  both,  in  which 
either  the  healthy  or  the  diseased  predominates. 
It  is  in  this  sense,  as  I  have  previously  stated,  that 
for  the  physician  and  educator  there  can  not  be 
two  classes  of  human  beings,  but  only  single  human 
beings,  each  of  whom  must  be  treated  in  accord- 
ance with  his  own  individuality. 

In  considering  Mendel's  law,  we  asked  whether 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  135 

it  might  be  possible,  by  means  of  inheritance,  to 
maintain  and  increase  desirable  properties,  and, 
conversely,  to  cause  undesirable  properties  gradu- 
ally to  disappear.  I  mentioned  that  it  is  not 
certain  whether  the  Mendelian  law  applies  to 
human  beings  the  same  as  it  does  to  plants  and 
animals.  I  said,  particularly,  that  it  is  uncertain 
whether  the  psychic  organs  of  descendants  can 
be  favorably  influenced  by  predetermined  selec- 
tion of  their  parents.  Certain  facts  furnish  us 
with  reliable  data  in  this  regard.  These  pertain 
to  the  so-called  constitutional  anomalies,  such  as 
tuberculosis,  syphilis,  neurasthenia,  etc.  It  is 
quite  certain  that  parents  who  beget  children 
when  suffering  from  the  chronic  forms  of  those 
diseases,  while  not  transmitting  the  disease  itself, 
certainly  do  transmit  a  predisposition  to  such 
disease  to  their  descendants.  These  children,  con- 
sequently, are  hereditarily  tainted  and  bring  with 
them  into  the  world  more  or  less  defective  con- 
stitutions through  which  their  struggle  for  exist- 
ence is  rendered  more  difficult.  At  the  beginning, 
perhaps,  the  defect  involves  only  the  bodily  func- 
tions, but  just  as  a  workman,  even  when  very 
adept,   can   not  produce   good   results   with   poor 


136  CHILD    TRAINING 

implements,  so  the  mentality  becomes  less  effective 
when  its  tool,  the  physical  constitution,  is  poorly 
conditioned.  Thus  we  can  understand  how  physic- 
ally tainted  children  may  also  be  psychically 
defective,  even  tho  at  the  time  of  conception  both 
parents  were  in  good  mental  health. 

How  hereditary  transmission  of  constitutional 
anomalies  may,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  restricted, 
or  perhaps  be  entirely  eliminated  in  time,  is  ex- 
plained in  another  part  of  this  book.  Here  I 
would  again  emphasize  my  opinion  that  much 
better  success  may  be  obtained  through  instruc- 
tion and  enlightenment  than  by  means  of  rigorous 
laws  enforceable  only  with  difficulty.  Enlighten- 
ment of  the  people  regarding  tuberculosis  and 
other  constitutional  anomalies,  and  particularly 
regarding  alcoholism  as  a  factor  in  the  production 
of  hereditary  taint,  can  meet  with  no  decided 
obstacles. 

It  is  entirely  different,  however,  when  we  come 
to  the  question  of  sexual  dissipation.  Altho  every 
educated  person  knows  that  sexual  excesses,  to- 
gether with  infections  resulting  therefrom,  are 
fraught  with  pernicious  consequences  for  future 
generations,    there   is   a   general   disinclination   to 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  137 

discuss  such  subjects  in  public.  It  is  considered 
indecent  for  cultivated  people  to  talk  about 
syphilis  or  the  pollution  of  the  body  which  it 
causes,  or,  in  fact,  even  to  refer  to  the  question 
of  impregnation  and  heredity.  In  such  mattei-s 
we  act  precisely  like  the  ostrich,  which,  when 
danger  approaches,  hides  its  head  in  a  bush  or 
in  the  sand,  and  then  because  it  no  longer  sees 
the  enemy  believes  him  to  be  no  longer  present. 
We  passively  permit  the  danger  to  advance,  allow 
the  poison  to  contaminate  the  body  of  the  people 
and  remain  silent  as  tho  the  menace  did  not  exist. 
But  it  is  of  no  avail  to  act  as  tho  we  saw  no  peril ; 
nor  does  it  help  in  any  way  to  say  that  every 
person  must  bear  the  consequences  of  his  own  acts. 
Above  all,  we  should  not  forget  that  many  persons 
who  have  become  diseased  as  a  result  of  sexual 
excesses  are  the  victims  of  seduction  or  of  their 
own  ignorance.  Then  we,  too,  should  always  bear 
in  mind  that  not  only  the  diseased  individuals 
but  their  descendants  as  well  are  seriously  men- 
aced. Contagious  sexual  diseases  could  not  spread 
any  more  widely  than  any  other  infectious 
disease,  if  all  persons  were  aware  of  the  danger 
to  which,  through  sexual  excesses,  they  expose  not 


138  CHILD    TRAINING 

only  themselves  but  all  with  whom  they  come  in 
contact. 

Human  society,  therefore,  has  the  greatest  in- 
terest in  combatting  the  source  of  so  much  evil 
for  so  many  individuals.  This  source  is  ignor- 
ance of  sexual  facts.  Tho  many  persons  oppose 
all  suggestions  of  sexual  education  for  children, 
it  is  my  conviction  that  young  people  must  be 
enlightened  concerning  the  physiological  task  ful- 
filled by  the  procreative  act,  they  must  be  taught 
how,  with  equal  certainty,  there  are  transmitted 
through  it  not  only  normal  but  also  pathological 
qualities;  and  how  deleterious  upon  the  organism 
may  be  the  misuse  of  the  sexual  impulse,  even 
when  not  followed  by  any  infection.  Most  par- 
ents probably  do  not  doubt  in  the  least  that  their 
adolescent  children  would  be  benefited  by  re- 
ceiving this  instruction  and  would  thereby  be  far 
better  guarded  against  unscrupulous  seduction. 
Nevertheless,  the  majority  of  parents  are  not  cap- 
able of  giving  this  instruction  Quite  naturally  it 
is  unpleasant  for  them  to  discuss  with  their 
children  a  subject  so  delicate  in  nature,  but  what 
is  more  important,  they  usually  lack  the  peda- 
gogic skill  necessary  to  explain  these  matters  in 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  189 

connection  with  natural  processes  of  a  similar 
kind  as  they  occur  in  plants  and  animals.  Under 
no  circumstances  should  such  instruction  be  de- 
ferred until  the  child  has  received  its  first  notions 
on  the  subject  from  obscene  literature,  or  until 
its  imagery  has  been  perverted  through  seductive 
pictures  painted  for  it  by  unscrupulous  profli- 
gates. Nothing  can  better  check  an  overflowing 
fantasy  than  the  appropriate  instruction  of  a 
qualified  pedagog.  He  knows  his  pupils,  knows 
to  what  extent  he  may  depend  upon  their  powers 
of  understanding,  and  will,  without  difficulty,  be 
able  to  present  his  sexual  instructions  in  a  proper 
garb,  without  revealing  to  the  children  either  too 
much  or  too  little.  Such  instruction  might  be 
given  in  a  series  of  talks,  which  the  teacher  could 
formulate  along  the  lines  of  the  following  subject 
matter : 

All  organism  (plants  and  animals)  have  a 
limited  duration  of  life,  but,  without  exception, 
all  possess  the  power  of  producing  organisms 
similar  to  themselves,  of  constantly  populating  the 
earth  with  their  own  kind,  and  therefore,  in  a 
way,  of  continuing  life  in  their  descendants.  We 
see   cells   or   groups   of   cells   becoming   detached 


140  CHILD    TRAINING 

from  the  individual  organisms,  and,  where  the 
external  conditions  are  favorable,  gradually  de- 
veloping into  independent  beings  of  the  same 
kind.  This  power  of  propagation  possest  by  an 
organism  is  confined  to  a  certain  stage  of  its 
existence,  which  is  called  the  stage  of  maturity, 
and  varies  greatly  in  the  various  species.  Some 
of  these  in  a  few  days  or  weeks  of  their  existence 
produce  an  enormous  number  of  descendants,  but 
in  consequence  of  lack  of  nourishment  most  of  the 
latter  can  not  survive  A  tapeworm  in  the  course 
of  a  year  produces  about  one  million  young,  the 
oyster  just  as  many ;  the  offspring  of  a  plant  louse 
in  a  few  weeks  aggregate  several  thousand  mil- 
lion, those  of  a  vorticella  after  four  days  total  one 
hundred  and  forty  million,  and  those  of  bacteria, 
when  the  culture  soil  is  favorable,  reach  even 
larger  numbers.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
species  that  arrive  at  the  age  of  maturity  com- 
paratively late  and  bring  but  a  few  young  into 
the  world.  For  instance,  the  elephant  in  three  to 
four  years  produces  only  a  single  offspring. 
Human  beings  reach  the  period  of  maturity  at 
about  the  sixteenth  year  of  life,  and  the  number 
of  offspring   for  one  couple   may  be   as  high   as 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  141 

twenty  or  twenty-five,  but  as  a  rule  does  not 
exceed  five  or  six. 

All  children  must  have  observed  that  a  kitten 
can  be  produced  only  from  cats,  a  chicken  only 
from  chickens,  a  calf  only  from  cattle,  etc.  Simi- 
larly, wheat  can  grow  only  where  wheat  has  been 
sown,  oats  where  oats  have  been  sown,  etc.  There 
is  no  organism  that  can  originate  of  itself,  but  each 
must  spring  from  organisms  of  its  own  kind.  All 
organisms  are  direct  descendants  of  primal  cells. 
"Whence  these  came  we  do  not  know,  and  all  hy- 
potheses offered  to  explain  the  origin  of  the  first 
living  beings  as  due  to  anything  other  than  par- 
ental procreation  have  been  failures. 

The  production  of  new  independent  individuals 
takes  place  either  sexually  or  asexually.  Asexual 
reproduction  is  a  process  comparatively  easy 
to  understand.  In  its  simplest  form  it  consists 
in  self-division  or  cleavage.  Self-division  occurs 
mainly  in  the  lower  orders  of  animals  in  which 
material  for  the  new  being,  with  all  of  its  prop- 
erties, is  already  present  in  the  maternal  body, 
and  the  latter,  by  means  of  cleavage  into  two  or 
more  parts,  forms  one  or  more  new  organisms. 

Bud  or  spore  formation  is  very  common  in  the 


142  CHILD    TRAINING 

animal  and  vegetable  kingdom,  the  more  striking 
examples  occurring  in  corals,  water  medusae  and 
in  some  worms.  It  differs  from  the  process  of 
self-division  in  that  the  maternal  organism  remains 
intact. 

While,  therefore,  in  asexual  propagation  there 
is  present  but  a  single  propagating  substance, 
which  possesses  the  power  of  transforming  itself 
directly  into  a  new  organism,  sexual  procreation 
is  characterized  by  the  fact  that  the  germ  material 
always  originates  in  special  formations,  the  ovaries, 
and  requires  impregnation  by  means  pf  the  seed 
before  it  can  develop.  In  other  words,  the  germ 
or  egg  cell  must  coalesce  with  the  seed  cell.  Since 
the  opportunity  for  such  coalescence  is  frequently 
wanting  the  number  of  offspring  produced  through 
sexual  propagation  is  far  less  than  in  asexual 
propagation. 

In  sexual  propagation,  which  forms  the  rule  in 
higher  plants  and  animals,  and  which,  in  human 
beings,  is  the  only  method  of  propagation,  we  must 
again  differentiate  two  forms.  Either  the  organ 
for  the  formation  of  the  ovum  and  that  for  the 
formation  of  the  seed  are  to  be  found  together  in 
one  and  the  same  individual,  as  is  the  case  in  the 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  143 

large  majority  of  plants,  the  leech,  the  rain-worm 
and  a  few  other  animals,  or  else  the  seed  cell  and 
the  egg  cell  are  produced  by  two  different  indi- 
viduals, male  and  female.  The  higher  organisms 
which  increase  only  by  means  of  sexual  propaga- 
tion are,  therefore,  divided  into  three  classes: 

First,  the  hermaphrodites,  which  produce  seed 
as  well  as  eggs.  Secondly,  the  males  which  pro- 
duce only  the  seed.  Thirdly,  the  female  which 
produces  only  the  egg. 

The  fecundation  of  the  egg  by  means  of  the  seed 
in  the  differentiated  sexes  may  occur  within  the 
female  organism  by  means  of  copulation  or  may 
occur  outside  of  the  organism,  as  is  the  ease  with 
the  spawn  of  fish.  Similarly  the  development  of 
the  fecundated  germ  may  take  its  course  within 
as  well  as  outside  of  the  female  organism.  Develop- 
ment outside  of  the  organism  is  exemplified  in  the 
hatching  of  eggs  of  birds.  In  human  beings  and 
the  mammals  in  general,  fecundation  and  develop- 
ment of  the  germ  always  take  place  within  the 
maternal  body.  After  the  germ  has  developed 
suflSeiently  to  be  able  to  continue  its  life  outside 
the  maternal  organism,  which  in  the  human  being 
takes  about  fortv  weeks,  the  mature  child  is  dis- 


144  CHILD    TRAINING 

charged  by  means  of  the  act  of  parturition.  During 
fecundation  a  coalescence — an  actual  interchange 
of  the  germ  substance  furnished  by  both  parents — 
takes  place.  Upon  this  is  dependent  the  inherit- 
ance of  parental  qualities. 

This  last  fact  with  which  the  sex  instruction 
should  conclude  is  of  the  most  extreme  importance, 
and  the  object  of  all  sexual  enlightenment,  there- 
fore, can  only  be  to  call  the  attention  of  young 
folk  to  the  responsibility  they  assume  when  they 
allow  themselves  to  be  controlled  unrestrictedly  by 
their  sexual  desires.  Through  hereditary  trans- 
mission the  child  receives  numerous  fully  developed 
capabilities  that  have  been  acquired  only  with 
difficulty  by  its  members  in  the  course  of  thousands 
of  years.  Whatever  the  child  does  instinctively, 
without  any  consciousness  of  purpose,  is  the  con- 
densation of  the  experience  acquired  by  all  ante- 
cedent generations.  Heredity,  however,  carries  to 
the  child  not  only  benefits  but  also  decided  detri- 
ments. When  the  sexual  admixture  of  two  races 
results  in  a  transmission  of  the  bad  qualities  of 
both  to  the  offspring,  when  drunkards,  syphilitics, 
degenerates,  or  the  insane  bring  into  the  world 
idiotic  or  otherwise  defective  progeny,  it  is  nothing 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT         145 

else  than  an  expression  of  the  law  of  heredity. 
Altho  it  may  be  true,  as  Seholz  says,  that  ' '  degen- 
eration and  regeneration  counterbalance  each 
other,"  still  it  should  not  be  left  to  chance  to 
determine  that  in  procreation  no  detrimental  germ 
cells  shall  exert  their  influence  and  restrict  the 
life  utility  of  the  child.  The  knowledge  of  the 
regulation  of  such  occurrences  certainly  constitutes 
a  part  of  prophylactic  training. 

I  am  confident  that  once  we  have  made  a  begin- 
ning, instruction  regarding  the  laws  of  nature 
governing  procreation  and  heredity  will  lose  its 
displeasing  impress.  The  common  reluctance  to 
explain  the  processes  of  propagation  to  children  is 
one  of  those  prejudices  which  has  brought  naich 
misfortune  to  the  human  race.  Children  should 
know  that  the  sexual  instinct  is  one  just  as  natural 
as  the  nutritional  instinct,  and  that  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  sexual  instinct  is  no  more  shameful  than 
the  satisfaction  of  the  feeling  of  hunger  or  thirst. 
In  my  opinion  it  is  not  even  necessary  to  defer 
instruction  on  this  subject  until  children  have 
reached  the  age  of  puberty.  In  fact,  I  consider  it 
much  better  to  begin  such  lessons  before  that  time. 
The    tactful    teacher,  even    when    dealing    with 


H6  CHILD    TRAINING 

younger   children,    will    without   difficulty    find    a 
suitable  starting-point  for  his  instruction. 

The  example  we  have  given  of  the  manner  in 
which  enlightenment  regarding  sexual  processes 
might  be  given  again  emphasizes  the  fact,  so  im- 
portant to  modern  pedagogy,  that  every  person 
in  consequence  of  his  inherited  disposition  and  the 
influences  which  surround  him,  must  be  looked 
upon  as  a  special  individual.  That  this  fact 
makes  every  system  of  classifying  abnormal  chil- 
dren exceedingly  difficult,  becomes  evident  from  a 
study  of  the  literature  on  the  subject.  Such  ex- 
perienced pedagogs  as  Holmes  and  Groszman  agree 
it  is  impossible  to  assign  abnormal  children  to 
distinct,  well-defined  classes.  Scholz  very  properly 
decries  the  desire  of  seeking  something  patho- 
logical in  every  case.  "A  symptom  in  itself,"  he 
says,  "as  yet  signifies  nothing;  only  M'hen  arrayed 
in  its  connection  with  other  symptoms  does  it 
acquire  significance."  A  certain  equalization  takes 
place  because  not  only  the  seed  for  degenerative 
but  also  that  for  regenerative  qualities  is  trans- 
mitted from  parent  to  offspring.  For  this  reason 
the  most  serviceable  training  is  that  which  gives 
each  pupil  an  education  adapted  to  his  individu- 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  147 

ality,  in  order  that  he  may  waste  no  time  in  tasks 
for  which  he  is  not  fitted,  and  that,  in  attempting 
to  execute  these  tasks,  the  development  of  his  true 
natural  disposition  may  not  be  neglected.  ''Nature 
knows  only  individuals.  Every  human  being  is 
a  special  case,  a  peculiarity,  a  thing  in  itself." 
With  these  words  Scholz  makes  plain  the  basis 
from  which  not  only  all  medical  but  also  all  peda- 
gogic considerations  must  spring.  In  accordance 
with  this  standpoint  it  is  incorrect,  strictly  speak- 
ing, to  say  that  there  is  one  kind  of  pedagogy  for 
normal  children  and  another  for  pathological  chil- 
dren. On  the  contrary,  pedagogy  and  remedial 
pedagogy,  prophylactic  and  therapeutic  training, 
are  inseparably  interconnected. 

We  must  become  as  conversant  with  this  fun- 
damental idea  as  we  are  with  the  letters  of  the 
alphabet.  How  extraordinarily  difficult  it  often  is 
to  judge  the  mental  state  of  a  person,  whether 
adult  or  juvenile,  is  well  shown  in  a  striking 
example  given  by  Scholz,  who  says: 

"Place  before  any  one  of  the  many  who  shrug 
their  shoulders  in  regard  to  psychiatric  science,  a 
piece  of  gray  paper  and  ask  him:  'Is  the  paper 
black  or  white?'    He  will  then  answer,  'Neither 


148  CHILD    TRAINING 

one  nor  the  other — it  is  gray.'  Thereupon  you 
say,  'That  is  not  what  I  want  to  know.  You  must 
answer  directly — is  it  black  or  white,  and  nothing 
else.'  " 

In  a  similar  manner  the  psychiatrist,  when  called 
as  an  expert  in  court,  is  supposed  to  answer  whether 
an  accused  person  is  sane  or  insane — in  other 
words,  whether  he  is  responsible  or  irresponsible. 
Upon  his  testimony  depends  the  honor,  the  liberty, 
the  future  and  the  good  name  of  an  individual. 
The  law  recognizes  only  mental  health  and  mental 
disease,  and  does  not  admit  the  existence  of  any 
transitions  or  intermediary  grades.  But  what  if 
the  accused  is  neither  distinctly  sane  nor  insane? 
The  psychiatrist  will  be  unable  to  make  the  dis- 
tinction clear  to  his  legal  auditors,  for  the  judge 
is  required  to  say,  ' '  From  the  viewpoint  of  the  law 
that  does  not  concern  me ;  all  I  want  to  know  is 
whether  the  accused  is  sane  or  insane. ' ' 

Pedagogy  faces  exactly  the  same  difficulty  as 
soon  as  it  attempts  to  classify  the  children  in 
accordance  with  a  specified,  definite  diagram.  And 
what  could  a  teacher  say  were  he  required  to 
separate  his  pupils  into  two  groups,  the  clever  and 
the  stupid.     He  could  without  difficulty  array  on 


INTELLECTUAL    DEVELOPMENT  149 

one  side  those  who  are  actually  clever  and  on  the 
other  those  who  are  really  stupid,  but  as  to  those 
who  mentally  occupy  an  intermediate  position 
he  would  face  an  inextricable  dilemma.  It  is  well 
known  that  many  men  who  afterward  became 
great  were  looked  upon  when  in  school  as  un- 
talented,  some  of  them  even  as  actual  dullards. 
Then,  too,  we  frequently  find  that  children  who 
have  warranted  the  greatest  expectations,  who  have 
been  considered  models  of  perfection  in  school, 
have  proved  sore  disappointments  in  later  life. 
The  same  experience!  is  ifencounteried  so  far  as 
certain  psychic  deficiencies  are  concerned.  Any 
one  of  these,  in  certain  persons,  may  remain  latent 
throughout  life,  or,  at  most,  may  manifest  itself 
•only  under  exceptional  circumstances,  while  in 
other  individuals  the  same  psychic  defect  may 
develop  into  undisguised  mental  disorder.  It  has 
frequently  been  shown  that  a  feeble-minded  child, 
amid  orderly  surroundings,  in  which  it  found 
proper  care  and  was  kept  occupied  in  a  manner 
befitting  its  mental  state,  has  remained  apparently 
normal  throughout  its  life;  had  the  same  child 
grown  up  amid  neglectful  surroundings,  been 
treated  brutally  and  overburdened  with  work,  it 


150  CHILD    TRAINING 

would  gradually  have  degenerated  into  a  state  of 
complete  idiocy,  or,  in  consequence  of  its  anti- 
social nature,  it  would  have  been,  led  to  the  com- 
mission of  deeds  of  violence. 

Psychic  defects  may  be  compared  to  bacteria. 
We  are  constantly  in  danger  of  being  infected  by 
them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  infection 
takes  place  only  where  the  bacilli  find  a  propitious 
culture  medium.  In  that  circumstance  the  better 
the  soil,  the  more  quickly  and  more  numerously 
do  they  proliferate.  To  deprive  psychic  defects  of 
their  culture  medium,  to  keep  them  within  bounds 
so  that  they  can  not  gain  an  ascendancy — these 
are  among  the  chief  tasks  of  prophylactic  training. 
The  law  of  mechanism  is  applicable  to  all  psycho- 
physical activities.  The  older  we  become  the  more 
do  our  concepts,  emotion  and  voluntary  action 
acquire  a  character  of  habitude.  Pedagogically, 
this  is  a  very  important  fact.  For  if  our  virtues, 
as  well  as  our  faults,  through  frequeiit  repetition 
gradually  become  second  nature  to  us,  then  peda- 
gogy need  only  so  instil  good  habits  by  means  of 
assiduous  practise  that  they  will  be  inspired  auto- 
matically, and  finally  the  individual  will  be  unable 
to  do  otherwise  than  submit  to  them.     The  better 


INTELLECTUAL   DEVELOPMENT  151 

this  automatism  functionates,  the  more  unfavor- 
able will  be  the  soil  for  the  culture  of  psychic 
defects,  disordered  concepts,  and  perverted  activi- 
ties of  the  emotion  and  the  will.  While  unfavor- 
able external  conditions  of  life  can  not  become  the 
direct  productive  cause  of  mental  abnormalities, 
it  is  nevertheless  true  that  erroneous  training  can 
accentuate  evil  traits  which  already  exist.  Where 
the  intellect  is  naturally  feeble,  it  will  wither 
entirely  if  left  unexercised  or  if  inconsiderately 
abused  by  enforced  activity  for  which  the  brain  is 
unfitted.  Where  the  will  is  naturally  weak,  where 
there  exists  an  unbridled  imagery  and  dominating 
impulsiveness,  the  child,  unless  it  receives  ex- 
traneous aid,  will  inevitably  become  the  victim  of 
its  own  passions.  Training  can  not  give  the  child 
any  properties  it  has  not  received  from  nature. 
Nor  can  it  change  the  basic  tendency  of  its  con- 
genital psychic  qualifications.  But  it  can  prevent 
an  overgrowth  of  noxious  germs,  and  it  can  make 
an  individual  more  capable,  more  serviceable  than 
he  would  become  if  left,  unaided,  to  himself  and 
to  the  struggle  for  existence,  which  is  doubly 
exacting  for  a  hereditarily  tainted  brain. 


PABT   TUIBI) 

THE  PSYCHIC  ABNORMALITIES 
OF  CHILDHOOD 

A.  Organic  Defects 

The  psycnic  abnornaalities  of  childhood  that  are 
of  importance  from  the  standpoint  of  remedial 
pedagogies  may  be  classified  under  two  main  heads 
— those  dependent  upon  bodily  defects  and  the 
pure  neuroses. 

The  mental  defects  dependent  upon  bodily 
abnormalities  most  frequently  met  with  are  those 
states  of  apparent  psychic  weakness  which  are 
caused  by  adenoid  vegetations  in  the  naso-pharynx 
and  which  we  have  already  mentioned.  Every  one 
who  has  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  children 
afBicted  with  such  vegetations  must  have  noted 
their  lax,  stupid  expression,  their  peculiar  dull 
countenances  and,  more  especially,  their  defective 
speech.  The  sounds  with  nasal  resonance,  especi- 
ally m,  n,  ng,  r,  1  and  w,  are  markedly  altered  in 
consequence  of  a  suppression  of  the  resonance, 
and  gradually  this  alteration  implicates  all  other 
associated  sounds,  thus  articulation  in  general  loses 

152 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  153 

its  modulations  and  becomes  transformed  into  the 
so-called  "dead"  speech.  Through  occlusion  of 
the  openings  of  the  eustachian  tubes  in  the  naso- 
pharynx, caused  by  the  adenoid  vegetations,  the 
hearing  also  is  made  imperfect,  and  this  naturally 
interferes  with  the  conceptual  capacity,  in  so  far 
at  least  as  it  is  dependent  upon  the  receptivity  for 
auditory  impressions.  Since  the  mouth-breathing 
to  which  children  with  adenoids  are  obliged  to 
resort  is  much  more  superficial  than  nose-breathing, 
we  can  easily  understand  the  defective  develop- 
ment of  the  thorax  in  these  unfortunates,  their 
lowered  powers  of  resistance  to  changes  of  tem- 
perature, their  headaches,  restless  sleep  and  facial 
pallor.  All  these  conditions  are  due  to  obstruction 
of  their  nasal  respiration. 

In  the  psychic  domain,  obstruction  of  the  res- 
piration manifests  itself  by  a  dreamy,  distracted 
manner,  by  an  inability  to  concentrate  the  atten- 
tion on  any  object  for  any  length  of  time,  and  by 
an  inordinate  susceptibility  of  the  brain  to  fatigue, 
a  condition  which  has  technically  been  designated 
as  *'aprosexia."  Of  course,  an  obstruction  to 
nasal  respiration  due  to  other  causes,  such  as 
polypi,  chronic  catarrh,  exostoses,  etc.,  may  also  be 


154  CHILD    TRAINING 

the  reason  for  a  mental  condition  of  that  kind, 
and  in  that  case  the  feeble-mindedness  is  not  actual 
but  merely  apparent.  It  was  this  latter  state  to 
which  Guye  first  applied  the  tcnn  "aprosexia." 
According  to  him  the  condition  is  encountered  in 
the  following  forms:  1.  As  a  difficulty  in  the  acqui- 
sition or  assimilation  of  new  ideas,  especially  when 
tliese  are  of  abstract  kind.  2.  As  a  difficulty  in 
retaining  new  concepts  (weakness  of  memory).  3. 
As  a  difficulty  in  concentrating  the  attention  upon 
a  certain  object  for  any  length  of  time  (aprosexia 
in  its  restricted  sense). 

In  a  lecture  before  the  Society  of  German 
Naturalists  and  Physicians  in  1887,  Guye  exprest 
himself  as  follows:  "I  would  like  to  say  a  few 
words  regarding  the  relationship  of  aprosexia  of 
nasal  origin  and  that  aprosexia  which  bespeaks  our 
interest  because  it  is  a  symptom  of  overstrain  in 
school.  When,  in  consequence  of  too  much  study, 
a  pupil  is  no  longer  able  to  learn,  he  suffers  from 
aprosexia.  But  in  many  cases  the  predisposition 
to  this  state  is  furnished  by  nasal  disease,  and  I 
believe  it  should  be  imprest  upon  the  teachers  that 
in  all  such  cases  they  should  pay  attention  to  the 
condition  of  the  nose  and  particularly  to  the  form 


ORGANIC   DEFECTS  155 

of  breathing.  My  experience  leads  me  not  to  doubt 
for  a  moment  that  in  many  instances  the  back- 
ward pupil  will  be  found  to  breathe,  either  night 
and  day,  or  only  at  night,  with  open  mouth.  In 
all  such  cases  the  aprosexia  is  curable  by  nasal 
treatment.  What  is  so  of  aprosexia  also  applies 
to  the  headache  with  which  it  is  closely  allied,  and 
which  also  plays  a  great  role  in  children  as  a  result 
of  overburdening  in  school." 

More  or  less  obstruction  to  nasal  breathing  was 
found  by  William  Hill  in  almost  all  the  mentally 
retarded  children  of  the  Earlswood  asylum.  In 
one-third  of  the  pupils  of  the  department  for 
feeble-minded  children  in  Koenigsberg,  Kafemann 
found  a  marked  enlargement  of  the  pharyngeal 
tonsil.  Naso-pharyngeal  vegetations  were  shown 
by  Schmid-Monard  to  be  present  in  one-fifth  of  the 
pupils  of  the  auxiliary  schools  at  Halle,  and 
Laquer's  examinations  of  sixty-seven  pupils  of 
auxiliary  schools  in  Frankfort  on  the  Main  revealed 
the  existence  of  marked  adenoid  vegetations  in 
twelve.  Of  the  retarded  school  children  examined 
in  Berlin  by  Kassel  39.5  per  cent,  had  malforma- 
tions of  the  same  kind,  and  the  examination  of 
three  hundred  and  six  feeble-minded  children  by 


156  CHILD    TRAINING 

Briihl  and  Navratzin  revealed  in  more  than 
75  per  cent,  of  them  either  hypertrophied  faucial 
tonsils  or  a  hypertrophied  pharyngeal  tonsil,  or 
both.  Similar  results  have  been  obtained  through 
studies  of  the  relationship  existing  between  nasal 
respiratory  obstructions  and  intellectual  weakness 
of  children  in  American  schools. 

It  should  not  be  supposed,  however,  that 
aprosexia  is  always  dependent  upon  an  obstruction 
to  nasal  respiration — on  the  contrary,  it  is  often 
of  purely  psychic  origin.  When  this  is  the  case, 
the  sparse  naso-pharyngeal  vegetations  often  found 
to  be  present  are  merely  incidental  complications. 
It  is  certain  that  the  relations  normally  existing 
between  the  cerebro-spinal  fluid  and  the  lymphatics 
of  the  nasal  membranes  are  often  disturbed  by  the 
presence  of  adenoid  vegetations,  and  that  a  removal 
of  these  vegetations  of  itself  suffices,  in  many  cases, 
to  restore  a  normal  equilibrium;  and  yet,  in  other 
cases,  the  removal  of  such  vegetations  brings  about 
no  improvement  whatever  in  the  abnormal  psychic 
state.  Such  cases  of  aprosexia,  therefore,  must  be 
dependent  upon  other  causes. 

We  will  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  state 
known  as  cretinism.     This  term  is  applied  to  an 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  157 

inhibition  of  psychic  development  associated  with 
certain  physical  disorders,  both  being  dependent 
upon  a  defective  exercise  of  function  of  the 
thyroid  gland  or  the  absence  of  that  function. 
The  thyroid  gland  in  some  cretins  becomes  trans- 
formed into  a  goiter,  frequently  of  extraordinary 
dimensions,  or  in  a  certain  number  of  cases  dis- 
appears entirely.  The  physical  symptoms  are  essen- 
tially retardation  in  growth  of  the  long  bones  of 
the  body  (dwarfism),  a  large,  deformed  head  with 
broad  nose  and  widely  separated  eyes,  and  above 
all  the  myxoedematous  changes  of  the  skin.  All 
over,  but  more  particularly  on  the  neck  and  the 
upper  arms,  the  skin  becomes  thick,  wrinkled  and 
flabby  as  tho  too  large  for  the  body.  The 
mental  faculties  may  become  arrested  at  any  stage 
of  their  development,  so  that  cretins  may  manifest 
either  the  most  abject  idiocy  or  only  a  slight  degree 
of  feeble-raindedness.  Their  psychic  comportment 
is  occasionally  characterized  by  marked  oscillations, 
wavering  between  apathy  on  the  one  hand  and 
states  of  excitement  upon  the  other. 

Cretinism  is  pre-eminently  an  endemic  disease 
and  is  met  with  in  almost  every  part  of  the  habit- 
able globe.     Goiter  is  fairly  common  in  England 


158  CHILD    TRAINING 

but  cretinism  rare,  while  in  North  America  the 
occurrence  of  cretinism  is  confined  almost  entirely 
to  the  valleys  of  Vermont,  Massachusetts  and  Cali- 
fornia. Cretinism  is  common  in  the  valleys  of  the 
Swiss  and  Austrian  Alps,  in  the  valleys  of  the 
Pyrenees  and  the  Himalayas,  and  also  along  the 
shores  of  the  rivers  Neckar  and  Main.  For  all 
time  certain  sections  of  the  Alpine  country  have 
been  notorious  as  goiter  regions.  There  the  in- 
habitants gave  birth  to  offspring  bearing  all  the 
marks  of  cretinism,  but  later,  when  they  had 
migrated  to  goiter-free  districts,  they  bore  healthy 
children.  On  the  other  hand,  women  who  were 
the  mothers  of  only  healthy  children  before  gave 
birth  to  cretins  after  they  had  removed  to  goitrous 
districts.  It  was  evident,  therefore,  that  the  causes 
of  cretinism  and  of  goiter  had  to  be  sought  in  local 
conditions. 

Foddere  of  Strassburg,  who  in  1772  published 
the  first  thorough  and  comprehensive  work  on 
cretinism,  sought  to  prove  this  disease  was  caused 
by  a  saturation  with  moisture  of  the  stagnant  air 
of  the  valleys.  In  a  book  on  cretinic  degeneration, 
published  in  1817,  Iphofen  attributes  the  causation 
of  this  disease  directly  to  a  lack  of  vitality  of  the 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  159 

affected  individual,  indirectly  to  an  absence  of 
electricity  in  the  air.  Altho  these  observers,  as 
well  as  many  others  of  their  times,  were  in  error 
in  attributing  goiter  to  the  effect  of  the  surround- 
ing atmosphere,  nevertheless  it  was  their  work 
that  brought  about  the  removal  of  the  inhabitants 
of  goiter-afSicted  areas  to  more  healthy  localities 
as  a  means  of  cure.  An  enumeration  of  the  cretins 
living  in  the  Canton  Wallis,  then  the  French 
departement  du  Simplon,  undertaken  by  order  of 
Napoleon  I.,  showed  that  approximately  three 
thousand  dwelt  there.  His  object  had  been  to 
effect  a  deplacement  of  the  entire  population  of 
the  most  afflicted  villages,  but  the  first  foundation, 
that  of  Eschersdorf,  demonstrated  that  the  people 
themselves  were  opposed  to  the  enforcement  of 
any  change  in  their  home  surroundings  for  sanitary 
reasons.  The  magnitude  of  the  undertaking,  how- 
ever, was  in  itself  sufficient  cause  for  failure, 
Guggenbiihl,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  hoped 
to  attain  definite  curative  results  mainly  by  means 
of  a  colonization  of  the  cretins  in  the  higher 
regions  of  the  Alps.  His  non-success  must  be  at- 
tributed chiefly  to  his  failure  to  recognize  the  actual 
exciting  cause  of  cretinism — that  is,  the  disordered 


160  CHILD    TRAINING 

thyroid  function — and  to  the  fact  that  under  that 
misapprehension  he  naturally  regarded  the  im- 
provement that  did  take  place  in  certain  cases 
as  being  due  directly  to  the  influence  of  a  change 
in  locality,  whereas  such  improvement  only  became 
possible  because  the  activity  of  the  thyroid  gland 
in  the  particular  cases  had  not  yet  ceased  entirely, 
and,  in  the  goiter-free  regions,  the  gland  was  able 
to  regain  part  or  all  of  the  function  it  had  lost. 

Originally,  therefore,  goiter  and  cretinism  were 
looked  upon  as  concurrent  symptoms  of  one  dis- 
ease, but  no  consideration  was  given  to  their  causal 
relationship  and  it  was  not  known  whether  the 
goiter  was  the  cause  of  the  cretinism  or  the  latter 
the  cause  of  goiter. 

A  clear  understanding  was  attained  only  after 
it  became  known  that  operative  removal  of  the 
thyroid  gland,  whenever  it  became  necessary,  was 
regularly  followed  by  cretinism.  Such  sporadic 
cretinism  in  mentally  perfectly  healthy  persons 
living  in  goiter-free  localities  could  not  be  attri- 
buted to  pollution  of  the  air  or  other  local  per- 
nicious influences.  Furthermore  it  was  ascertained 
that  the  thyroid  gland,  whose  function  until  that 
time   had    remained    unknown,    neutralized    the 


Courtesy  of  Dr.  W.  E.  FernaUi. 

Sporadic   Cretinism. 

Age,  10  years  and  II  months.  Height,  S  feet  10Y»  inches. 

Weight,  37  pounds. 
Massachusetts  School  for  Feeble-minded. 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  IGl 

toxicity  of  certain  products  of  metabolism  by  means 
of  the  secretion  which  it  produced,  and  that,  there- 
fore, cretinism  was  nothing  else  than  a  metabolic 
toxaemia  dependent  upon  loss  of  this  important 
function.  If,  then,  the  thyroid  gland  were  en- 
tirely absent,  or  if  its  function  had  been  sus- 
pended by  goiter,  cancerous  degeneration,  etc., 
cretinism  would  be  the  necessary  result.  Conse- 
quently, it  is  not  the  goiter,  as  such,  that  causes 
cretinism,  nor  is  it  the  goiter  alone.  The  goiter 
plays  the  chief  role  only  to  the  extent  that,  when 
it  has  attained  a  certain  size,  it  becomes  the  cause 
of  the  inhibition  of  the  function  of  the  thyroid 
gland. 

Briefly  stated,  therefore,  the  difference  between 
endemic  and  sporadic  cretinism  may  be  said  to 
be  that,  in  the  former  type,  there  exists  a  func- 
tional incompetence  due  to  the  goiter,  while  in 
the  other  such  incompetency  is  due  to  different 
causes. 

As  may  with  great  probability  be  assumed  from 
the  researches  of  Bircher  and  others,  the  goiter 
itself  is  caused  by  an  organized  pathogenic  agent 
which  finds  a  favorable  developmental  medium  in 
the   geological   conditions   of   the   Alpine   valleys, 


162  CHILD    TRAINING 

especially  iii  the  drinking  waters,  and,  as  is  the 
case  with  other  producers  of  disease,  preferen- 
tially attacks  persons  specially  predisposed  to  its 
influences.  Were  this  not  so,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible for  us  to  understand  why  all  persons  using 
the  same  drinking  water  and  living  upon  the 
same  unfavorable  soil  should  not  become  afflicted 
with  goiter  and  cretinism. 

In  so  far  as  sporadic  cretinism  is  concerned, 
it  is  of  interest  to  follow  the  reasoning  of  Kocher, 
the  Bernese  surgeon.  Kocher  had  found  that  the 
general  condition  of  patients  afflicted  with  goiter, 
which  had  not  yet  totally  annulled  the  function 
of  the  thyroid  gland,  became  markedly  disordered 
soon  after  a  total  removal  of  the  goitrous  gland. 
"Weakness,  pain,  and  a  sensation  of  heaviness  in 
the  extremities  set  in,  together  with  a  general 
feeling  of  cold,  and  these  were  followed  by  a 
decrease  in  mental  alertness,  the  latter  being  speci- 
ally noticeable  in  children  at  school.  The  dim- 
inution of  mental  capacity  observed  by  the  teach- 
ers manifested  itself  particularly  in  an  augment- 
ing slowness  of  thought,  the  children  having  to 
reflect  longer  before  responding  to  questions.  Pupils 
previously  among  the  best  scholars  gradually  re- 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  163 

trograded,  until  the  teachers  were  obliged  to 
cease  occupying  themselves  with  them.  The 
mental  loss  became  especially  apparent  in  the 
study  of  arithmetic.  The  torpidity  of  thought 
was  soon  followed  by  a  slowness  of  speech  and 
an  awkwardness  in  the  execution  of  all  move- 
ments of  the  body.  A  puffiness  of  the  face  set 
in;  the  eyelids,  especially  the  lower  ones,  became 
oedematous,  and  resembled  small  bags.  The  nose 
became  broad,  the  lips  thick,  the  abdomen  dis- 
tended, and  pronounced  umbilical  hernia  usually 
followed.  Hands  and  feet  became  thickened,  as 
did  also  the  skin  of  the  entire  body,  so  it  could 
be  lifted  only  in  massive  folds.  The  physiognomy 
became  mask-like  and  expressionless,  and  often  the 
greatly  enlarged  tongue,  having  no  room  in  the 
mouth,  protruded  between  the  lips.  Those  who 
at  the  time  of  operation  were  still  at  a  stage  of 
rapid  growth  remained  markedly  backward  in 
size  thereafter.  The  hair  upon  head  and  body 
became  sparse,  sexual  development  became  belated, 
and  in  many  eases  did  not  take  place  at  all.  The 
children  took  on  a  peculiarly  senile  appearance, 
their  voices  became  raucous  and  hoarse;  in  severe 
cases  all  manifestations  of  speech  ceased  and  only 


164  CHILD    TRAINING 

inarticulate  grunting  noises  were  omitted.  The 
gait  became  unsteady  and  waddling;  equilibrium 
of  the  body  could  be  maintained  only  by  the  aid 
of  compensatory  movements  of  the  arms,  through 
which  the  appearance  of  the  children  became 
still  more  conspicuous  and  repulsive.  It  was 
also  noticeable  that,  with  the  development  of 
cretinism,  the  children  became  increasingly  hard 
of  hearing  or  entirely  deaf,  and  consequently  the 
loss  of  the  faculty  of  articulate  speech  was 
hastened  all  the  more.  Finally,  it  was  noticed,  as 
Bayon  had  pointed  out,  that  the  sweat  glands  in 
the  cretinic  skin  atrophied,  the  children  no  longer 
perspired  and  their  temperature  became  perma- 
nently subnormal. 

The  cretinism  which  develops  after  the  opera- 
tive ablation  of  the  thyroid  gland,  or  in  conse- 
quence of  its  total  absence,  coincides  so  com- 
pletely with  goitrous  cretinism,  both  in  regard  to 
body  symptoms  and  mental  abnormalities,  that 
their  mutual  dependence  upon  the  deficiency  of 
thyroid  function  can  no  longer  be  doubted.  This 
coincidence  is  further  emphasized  by  the  fact  that 
the  artificial  substitution  of  the  thyroid  secretion 
by  feeding  with  animal  thyroid  preparations  pro- 


ORGANIC   DEFECTS  165 

duces  good  results  in  endemic  as  well  as  in 
sporadic  cretinism.  To  this  we  shall  recur  in  a 
succeeding  chapter. 

Our  terminology  must  be  still  further  explained. 
Instead  of  cretinism  the  word  "Myxedema"  is 
also  employed.  This  designation  is  partly  in- 
accurate because  it  actually  refers  only  to  a 
symptom — to  the  swelling  of  the  skin.  Never- 
theless, it  is  frequently  applied  to-day  to  the  entire 
aspect  of  the  disease,  myxedema  and  cretinism 
being  employed  as  synonymous  terms.  The 
myxedema  which  arises  after  complete  removal 
of  goitrous  tumors  is  designated  as  Cachexia 
Strumipriva,  while  the  myxedema  which  follows 
total  removal  of  the  thyroid  gland  (in  which  no 
goiter  is  present  but  the  gland  is  diseased  in 
some  other  manner)  is  called  Cachexia  Thyreo- 
priva.  This  total  removal  is  at  present  avoided 
whenever  possible,  and  in  all  operations  a  rem- 
nant of  functionating  gland,  if  it  still  exists,  is 
left  undisturbed. 

To  return  to  our  subject,  I  would  again  lay 
stress  upon  the  fact  that  there  has  been  observed 
no  case  of  myxedema  which  was  not  associated 
with    considerable    impairment    of    the    psychic 


166  CliiLD    TRAINING 

functions.  It  is  not  unusual  for  myxedematous 
children  during  infancy  to  bear  no  noticeable 
symptoms  of  the  disease,  and  for  the  manifesta- 
tions of  cretinism  to  became  clearly  apparent  only 
after  the  child  has  been  weaned.  The  psychic 
defects  of  myxedema  of  childhood  are  repre- 
sented by  an  inhibition  of  mental  development, 
by  a  continuance  upon  a  lower  plane,  there  being 
no  advance  to  the  next  higher  one  in  accordance 
with  the  principle  of  progression.  All  psychic 
reactions,  if  we  are  entitled  so  to  call  them,  are 
markedly  slackened.  The  slight  susceptibility  of 
myxedematous  children  to  stimuli  of  any  kind 
leads,  in  many  cases,  to  a  peculiar  state  of  somno- 
lence. The  insensitiveness  to  pain  of  cretinic  in- 
dividuals is  well  known.  In  peculiar  contrast 
stands  the  timorousness  of  many  cretins,  which 
often  manifests  itself  most  actively  without  ade- 
quate cause.  Often,  and  not  unjustly,  attention 
has  been  called  to  the  spitefulness  and  malice  of 
cretins.  In  many  instances  these  are  due  to  the 
neglect  with  which  such  individuals  have  been 
treated,  as  well  as  to  their  insusceptibility  to 
training.  Besides,  the  unfortunate  children  are 
not   infrequently   ridiculed   and   bantered   in   the 


ORGANIC   DEFECTS  167 

most  unseemly  manner,  and  thus  their  revengeful- 
ness  is  aroused.  At  times,  however,  they  seem  to 
have  an  actual  ethical  defect,  to  be  afiflicted  with 
moral  insanity,  so  to  speak,  and  in  certain  locali- 
ties cretins  have  been  notorious  as  incendiaries, 
thieves  and  vagrants.  The  tendency  to  vagrancy 
has  been  observed  to  be  especially  common  in 
them,  and  often  cretins  who  have  been  reared  in 
comfort  are  later  found  as  beggars  upon  the 
public  roads.  The  proclivity  of  many  cretins  to 
uncleanliness  and  filth  make  it  impossible  to  keep 
them  decently  drest  and  clean  or  to  get  them 
to  live  in  dwellings  adapted  to  human  beings. 
This  tendency  toward  uncleanliness  often  goes 
so  far  that  they  will  not  partake  of  decently 
prepared  food,  but  prefer  to  live  on  refuse  which 
they  pick  from  the  offal  heap.  Stoltzner  reports 
that  according  to  the  Swiss  historian,  Josias 
Ilimmler,  there  existed  in  a  village  of  the  Canton 
Wallis  many  cretins  locally  called  "Guchen," 
who  resembled  and  looked  like  animals,  took  no 
other  food  than  hay  and  horse  dung,  and  went 
about  naked  even  in  winter.  Such  cretins,  reek- 
ing with  dirt,  pass  their  lives  in  stables,  become 
more  and  more  bestialized,   and  even  crawl  into 


108  CHILD    TRAINING 

obscure  corners  as  soon  as  other  human  beings 
approach.  Attempts  to  rescue  them  from  this 
inhuman  existence  often  drive  these  unfortunates 
into  spells  of  rage,  in  which,  notwithstanding 
their  usual  mental  lethargy,  they  turn  upon, 
threaten,  and  even  attack  their  would-be  benefac- 
tors. Hence  it  can  easily  be  understood  why 
the  people  about  such  cretins  usually  submit  to 
their  peculiarities  and  permit  them  to  deteriorate 
without  offering  a  helping  hand. 

Closely  allied  to  cretinism  is  Mongolism,  to 
which  Arthur  Mitchell  first  called  attention.  The 
term  "Mongoloid  idiocy"  is  derived  from  the  re- 
semblance which  the  head  formation  of  the  afflicted 
persons  bears  to  that  of  the  Mongol  or  Kalmuck 
type  of  people.  This  Mongoloid  type  is  always 
congenital  and  occurs  in  from  3  to  4  per 
cent,  of  all  feeble-minded  individuals.  The  cir- 
cumference of  the  head  forms  a  shortened  oval,  so 
that  the  frontal  and  occipital  planes  are  parallel 
and  almost  equal  in  extent.  The  skull  is  often  so 
small  that  it  seems  to  be  microcephalic.  The 
transverse  diameter,  however,  is  excessively  large 
as  compared  to  the  shortened  antero-posterior 
diameter.     The  hair  of  Mongoloid  children  is  often 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  169 

sparse  and  straight,  the  skin  rough;  the  face  is 
broad  and  flattened,  the  nose  broad,  its  bridge 
sunken,  the  nostrils  facing  upward. 

One  of  the  most  obvious  signs  of  this  condition 
is  the  outward  and  upward  slant  of  the  palpebral 
fissures,  often  accompanied  by  a  sickle-like  forma- 
tion of  the  skin  of  the  upper  eyelid,  so  it  hangs 
over  and  in  part  covers  the  eye.  Still  another 
almost  characteristic  feature  is  the  appearance  of 
the  tongue,  which  shows  reddened,  over-developed 
papillas  and,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  transverse 
fissures.  The  teeth  are  likely  to  be  worn  down 
and  irregular  in  shape,  size  and  position.  The 
hands  are  ungainly,  the  fingers  short  and  stumpy, 
the  little  ones  flexedly  contracted ;  the  feet  also  are 
heavy  and  misshapen,  the  toes  clubbed,  and  one 
or  more  bent  inward  or  attached  to  adjoining  ones. 

A  noticeable  symptom  in  the  Mongoloid  type  of 
imbecility  is  the  laxness  of  the  joints  and  muscles 
— a  hyptonia — which  gives  rise  to  most  curious 
performances.  The  children  so  afflicted  have  the 
habit  of  sitting  cross-legged,  tailor  fashion,  and 
Bullard  speaks  of  one  who  used  "to  shut  himself 
up  like  a  jack-knife,  each  foot  on  the  opposite 
shoulder,  and  thus  sleep  for  the  night."     I  have 


170  CHILD    TRAININCt 

seen  a  Mongoloid  child  sitting  upon  the  ground 
with  its  legs  spread  apart  so  that  they  formed  one 
continuous  line  and  at  the  same  time  throwing 
its  arms  backward  so  that  the  dorsal  surface  of 
each  forearm  was  in  extended  and  close  contact 
with  that  of  the  other.  Many  observers  have 
noted  the  presence  of  adenoid  vegetations  in  these 
cases,  and  some  go  so  far  as  to  say  not  a  single 
case  of  Mongolism  exists  in  which  expert  exam- 
ination has  not  revealed  the  presence  of  marked 
vegetations  in  the  naso-pharyngeal  space.  This 
would  explain  why  the  mouth  is  kept  open  and  why 
the  voice  is  so  disagreeable  in  tone.  As  the  opera- 
tive removal  of  these  vegetations  is  not  followed  by 
any  noteworthy  improvements,  however,  we  must 
assume  the  obstruction  to  nasal  breathing  bears  no 
etiological  relationship  to  the  Mongoloid  state,  but 
is  merely  an  augmenting  incident.  The  general 
impression  created  by  Mongoloid  children  is  dis- 
tinctly ludicrous.  Aside  from  the  fact  that  they 
have  the  peculiar  formation  characteristic  of  the 
Mongol  race,  their  appearance,  made  especially  odd 
l)y  the  eczematous  redness  of  the  face  which  so 
often  exists,  is  more  or  less  that  of  a  harlequin  or 
clown.     The  brains  of  such  children,  as  has  been 


ORGANIC   DEFECTS  171 

shown  by  numerous  autopsies,  are  very  simply 
developed,  the  convolutions  being  broad  and  coarse 
with  but  few  subdivisions.  The  psychic  comport- 
ment of  Mongoloid  children  is  correspondingly 
characterized  by  a  marked  retardation  of  intel- 
lectual development.  Moreover,  their  emotional 
manifestations  fluctuate  in  extreme  and  in  abrupt 
transition,  A  Mongoloid  child  may  be  ungovem- 
edly  joyful,  laughing  and  joking  in  a  most  silly 
manner,  and  yet  in  a  moment  it  will  suddenly 
become  quiet,  refuse  to  move  from  its  place,  obey 
no  command,  stare  fixedly  at  the  floor,  and  respond 
to  appeals,  if  at  all,  only  with  more  or  less  violent 
outbursts  of  anger. 

The  defects  of  speech  manifest  in  all  Mongoloid 
children  are  dependent  upon  the  faulty  develop- 
ment of  the  intellectual  faculties.  A  high  degree 
of  stammering  which  renders  the  speech  unin- 
telligible is  very  often  present.  In  those  children 
of  the  Mongoloid  type,  who  have  acquired  a  certain 
amount  of  school  learning,  the  a^grammatic  man- 
ner of  speaking  becomes  distressingly  conspicuous. 
Another  characteristic  is  the  absence  of  all  manual 
dexterity.  The  children  appear  most  awkward  in 
carrying  out  the  simplest  handiwork  and  it  takes 


172  CHILD    TRAINING 

considerable  time  before  they  can  be  trained  to 
dress  and  undress  themselves  unaided.  Shuttle- 
worth  claims  that  50  per  cent,  of  these  children 
are  the  latest  bom  of  large  families,  whose  pro- 
ductive power  has  become  almost  exhausted.  It 
would  appear  that  these  Mongoloids  are  not  fully 
developed  at  birth  but  are  children  whose  develop- 
ment has  been  arrested  at  some  particular  stage 
of  fetal  life.  They  learn  to  walk  late  and  remain 
uncleanly  for  a  long  time,  a  fact  which  makes 
bodily  care  of  them  exceedingly  troublesome. 
From  the  beginning,  their  proper  nutrition  con- 
stitutes a  difficult  problem.  The  greatest  trouble  is 
caused  by  obstinate  constipation,  which  is  not 
relieved  by  otherwise  dependable  laxatives. 

The  true  cause  of  Mongolism  is  not  known.  There 
seems  to  be  a  strong  probability,  however,  that  dis- 
orders of  the  thyroid  functions  are  mainly  re- 
sponsible for  this  condition,  as  well  as  for  the 
others  we  have  already  discust.  At  any  rate,  the 
fact,  corroborated  by  Berkhan,  Heller,  and  other 
writers,  that  Mongoloid  children  often  show  a 
marked  improvement  of  condition  after  the  admin- 
istration of  preparations  of  thyroid  gland,  would 
lead  us  so  to  believe. 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  173 

In  explanation  of  the  more  detailed  considera- 
tion that  I  have  given  to  sporadic  cretinism  and 
Mongoloid  idiocy,  it  should  be  said  that  cases  of 
these  occur  with  frequency  in  the  United  States, 
while  endemic  or  goitrous  cretinism  is  compar- 
atively rare  in  the  valleys  of  the  mountain  districts 
of  North  America. 

Among  the  psychic  inhibitions  of  childhood  due 
to  organic  disorder  must  also  be  classed  those 
mental  defects  dependent  upon  a  loss  of  sensory 
function.  If  we  reflect  that  only  by  means  of  our 
sensory  apparatus  can  we  gain  ideas  of  the  outer 
world,  it  must  be  quite  clear  that  the  loss  of  one 
or  more  sensory  functions  can  not  be  without  in- 
fluence upon  our  ideational  life.  Never  have  I 
heard  of  a  case  of  a  human  being  congenitally 
lacking  all  sensory  functions,  that  is,  one  who 
could  neither  see,  nor  hear,  nor  smell,  nor  taste, 
nor  feel.  Such  a  person,  had  one  ever  existed, 
would  have  truly  represented  a  living  death,  for 
he  could  have  had  no  concept  of  an  existing  world, 
nor  any  consciousness  of  his  own  being. 

Only  the  blind  or  the  deaf,  as  well  as  those 
doubly  afflicted  individuals  who  are  both  blind  and 
deaf,   have   any  practical   significance    for   thera- 


174  CHILD    TRAINING 

peutie  pedagogy.  Absence  of  the  sense  of  smell, 
taste  or  touch,  is  of  little  practical  importance  in 
this  connection  for  it  is  rarely  congenital,  and, 
when  occurring  in  later  life,  is  always  due  to  other 
diseases  whose  treatment  does  not  fall  within  the 
scope  of  remedial  pedagogy.  Likewise,  we  need 
give  no  extended  consideration  in  this  work  to 
sense  deceptions,  inasmuch  as  they  are  not  depen- 
dent upon  a  lack  of  sensory  perceptions,  but  are 
of  central  origin  and  belong  in  the  domain  of 
psychiatry. 

We  will  confine  ourselves,  therefore,  to  a  presen- 
tation of  those  defects  of  conceptual  life  which  are 
caused  by  functional  incapacity  of  the  two  highest 
senses,  sight  and  hearing.  Let  us  first  make  clear 
the  distinction  between  congenital  or  early  acquired 
blindness  or  deafness  and  that  which  has  arisen 
later  in  life.  It  is  self-evident  that  children  who 
become  afflicted  with  blindness  or  deafness  at  a 
time  when  they  have  already  acquired  many 
firmly  rooted  ideas  can  never  become  so  ideation- 
ally  narrowed  as  are  those  children  who  have  never 
had  any  opportunity  to  acquire  visual  or  auditory 
impressions,  either  because  they  have  been  blind  or 
deaf  from  birth  or  because  their  apperceptional 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  175 

power  was  still  undeveloped  at  the  time  of  the 
onset  of  the  disease  which  caused  the  sensory  loss. 
Through  association  of  ideas  the  former  are  able 
constantly  to  reproduce  and  augment  their  store 
of  ideas,  even  if  further  direct  perceptions  can 
not  be  conveyed  to  thera.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
latter  can  not  start  their  association  processes  from 
any  memory  picture  that  might  have  arisen  had 
the  sensory  function  been  present,  and  consequently 
they  are  unable  to  obtain  new  concepts  of  a  cor- 
responding sensory  nature.  In  itself  the  existence 
of  blindness  or  deafness  or  both,  even  when  con- 
genital, does  not  imply  mental  weakness  or  psycho- 
pathic inferiority.  The  intellectual  faculties  may 
be  perfectly  normal  despite  the  lack  of  sensory 
function.  But  when  any  sense-defect  is  absolute 
and  permanent,  the  harmonious  development  of  the 
intellect  is  impeded  by  the  fact  that  those  ideas 
which  pertain  to  the  corresponding  sensory  class 
are  either  markedly  restricted  or  entirely  absent, 
and  hence,  without  extraneous  aid,  can  not  be 
associated  with  other  ideas  to  form  an  unbroken 
sequence.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  if  the  blind 
or  the  deaf  do  not  get  the  benefit  of  special  training 
aids  they  will  necessarily  remain  behind  normal 


176  CHILD    TRAINING 

children  in  mental  development,  and  that  when 
both  visual  and  auditory  functions  are  absent  the 
psychic  deficiency  will  be  materially  augmented 
under  similar  circumstances.  That  it  is  possible, 
however,  to  overcome  the  obstacles  to  mental 
development  which  are  due  to  sensoiy  defects,  to 
make  the  psychic  comportment  of  the  blind  or  the 
deaf — yes,  even  of  individuals  afflicted  with  both 
defects — perfectly  normal  is  shown  by  so  many 
striking  examples  that  it  would  be  superfluous  to 
enumerate  them.  It  was  especially  the  doctrine  of 
sense  vicariousness,  the  readjustment  of  the  loss 
due  to  a  defect  of  one  sense  through  augmentation 
of  the  efficiency  of  the  other  senses,  which  fur- 
nished a  basis  for  more  successful  educational  work 
in  the  instruction  of  the  blind  and  the  deaf  mutes. 
Formerly  the  blind  and  the  deaf  were  regarded  as 
being  upon  the  same  level  as  the  feeble-minded. 
This  assumption  took  its  origin  in  the  view,  now 
long  abandoned,  that  the  nature  of  the  feeble- 
mindedness was  to  be  sought  in  a  weakening  of 
the  sensory  functions,  which  belief,  in  turn,  was 
based  upon  a  superficial  analogy  between  the 
psychic  comportment  of  the  feeble-minded  and 
that  of  the  blind  and  deaf-mutes.    Writers  who  had 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  177 

never  occupied  themselves  seriously  with  a  study 
of  the  psychology  of  the  blind  exprest  the  opinion 
that  the  want  of  the  highest  sense  must  cause  a 
certain  mental  inferiority,  a  view  which  has  long 
since  been  controverted  by  all  the  facts  which 
experience  has  taught  us.  As  concerns  deaf-mutes 
it  should  be  said  that  while  their  mental  develop- 
ment takes  place  in  a  special  manner,  in  conformity 
with  certain  laws  which  have  not  as  yet  been  suffi- 
ciently elucidated,  and  while  their  mental  state 
differs  in  numerous  ways  from  that  of  persons  in 
healthy  possession  of  all  their  senses,  it  is  improper 
to  characterize  this  state  as  a  pathological  one. 

The  pedagogic  procedures  to  be  employed  for 
the  blind  and  the  deaf  differ  so  radically  from 
the  prophylactic  and  therapeutic  measures  which 
are  useful  in  weakmindedness  and  the  psycho- 
pathic inferiorities,  that  I  have  considered  it  neces- 
sary to  mention  these  sense-defects  and  the  relation 
which  they  bear  to  mental  deficiency  only  in  order 
to  controvert  the  misunderstanding  which  still 
prevails  regarding  them. 

Let  us  now  proceed  to  a  consideration  of  that 
Protean  phase  of  disease  known  as  idiocy.  A 
consideration  of  the  extensive  group  of  disorders 


178  CHILD    TRAINING 

comprehended  iu  that  word  has  been  deferred  until 
now  because,  without  the  explanations  which  have 
gone  before,  an  understanding  of  idiocy  would 
have  been  even  more  difficult  than  it  now  is. 

By  idiocy  we  understand  that  congenital  or 
early  acquired  feeble-mindedness  of  varying  degree 
which  is  dependent  upon  irremediable  brain  defects, 
and  which  may  be  ameliorated  but  can  not  be 
cured.  We  have  already  seen  that  other  organic 
defects, — for  instance,  an  impediment  to  proper 
respiration,  absence  of  the  thyroid  function,  etc. — 
may  be  followed  by  mental  weakness  of  any  degree 
and  even  by  complete  dementia.  Hence  from  the 
definition  just  given,  it  is  clear  that  the  char- 
acteristics which  distinguish  idiocy  from  other 
forms  of  psychic  weakness  are,  first,  the  chronic 
disease  of  the  brain — which  is  the  cause  of  the 
idiocy — and,  second,  its  incurability.  Classifica- 
tions of  idiocy  have  been  made  in  accordance  with 
the  most  varied  suggestions,  being  based  at  one 
time  upon  etiology,  at  another  upon  pathological 
anatomy,  and  again  upon  the  clinical  symptoms. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  decide  in  favor  of  any  one  of 
these  methods,  as  none  of  them  is  entirely  satis- 
factory.    The  most  common  classification  of  idiocy 


ORGANIC   DEFECTS  171) 

is  into  tlireo  groups — feeble-mindeclncss  or  high 
grade  idiocy,  imbecility  or  medium  grade  idiocy, 
and  idiocy  proper  or  low  grade  idiocy. 

Goddard,  a  few  years  ago,  presented  to  the 
American  Association  for  the  Study  of  Feeble- 
mindedness an  industrial  classification,  which  is 
used  by  the  Training  School  in  Vineland,  New 
Jersey,  and  in  which,  as  formerly,  the  division  into 
three  groups  has  been  adopted — the  lowest  grade 
being  called  idiots,  the  middle  grade  imbeciles,  and 
the  highest  grade,  formerly  called  feeble-minded, 
being  designated  by  the  term  "moron."*  Each 
of  these  three  groups  is  in  turn  divided  into  three, 
making  nine  degrees  of  defectives. 

To  me  it  seems  a  classification  most  adapted  to 
practical  requirements,  and  deserving  above  all 
others  of  consideration  by  remedial  pedagogy,  is 
one  which  is  based  upon  the  educable  capability 
of  the  defective  child.  This  educable  capability 
can  be  tested  by  means  of  the  law  of  correspondence 
of  apperception  and  fixation  as  enunciated  by 
Wundt.  Since  passive  attention,  as  compared  with 
active  attention,  appears  to  be  the  simpler  process. 


*The   term    "Moron"    is  taken    from   the   Greek   and  means   fool, 
or  a  person  who  is  lucking   in  judgment   and  good  sense. 


180  CHILD    TRAINING 

we  are  justified  in  regarding  the  impossibility  of 
arousing  the  child's  passive  attention  as  proof  of 
the  absence  of  any  psychic  developmental  capacity. 
Of  course  this  fixation  test  presupposes  the  non- 
existence of  blindness  or  any  other  marked  inter- 
ference with  vision.  So  also  must  the  existence  of 
**soul  blindness"  and  its  closely  related  failing, 
''soul- deafness"  be  ruled  out  before  the  test  can 
be  applied. 

These  terms  respectively  designate  the  loss  of 
visual  and  auditory  memory  pictures.  "Soul 
blindness"  and  "soul  deafness"  (also  called  "word 
blindness"  and  "word  deafness")  depend  respec- 
tively upon  diseases  of  the  visual  and  acoustic 
spheres.  As  a  result  of  such  disease  the  affected  in- 
dividual, altho  able  to  see  or  to  hear,  does  not  rec- 
ognize what  he  has  seen  or  does  not  understand  what 
he  has  heard.  The  power  of  perception,  therefore, 
is  present  and  the  power  of  apperception  is  lost, 
while  in  actual  blindness  and  deafness  the  percep- 
tive as  well  as  the  apperceptive  power  is  missing. 

I  am  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  reliable  tests 
for  the  recognition  of  the  apperceptional  capability 
for  auditory  impressions  or  for  impressions  of 
smell,  taste,  and  touch,  which  will  give  an  insight 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  181 

into  the  degree  of  apperceptional  capability  and 
cultural  capacity  as  does  the  fixation  test.  All  in 
all,  it  is  certain  that  a  child  lacking  in  apper- 
ceptional power  for  impressions  of  light,  even  when 
these  strike  the  fixation  point  of  the  eye,  will  also 
react  only  with  great  difficulty  to  other  sensory 
stimuli  even  when  no  morbid  disturbances  of  the 
sensory  organs  can  be  found. 

The  best  results  are  obtainable  when  the  fixation 
test  is  undertaken  in  a  fairly  darkened  room  with 
a  slowly  moved  candle  flame  being  used  to  attract 
the  child's  attention.  It  is  very  possible  the  first 
attempts  will  give  negative  results.  Frequently 
the  unusual  situation  excites  in  the  idiotic  child  a 
general  unrest  which  arouses  it  to  a  state  of  marked 
opposition. 

In  such  cases  it  is  commonly  better  to  refrain 
from  darkening  the  room  completely,  and  to  remain 
content  with  less  intense  stimuli  of  light.  Even 
under  such  conditions  repeated  examinations  will 
lead  to  a  positive  and  correct  decision.  If  the 
child  continuously  stares  into  the  distance  beyond 
the  object  of  fixation,  and  if  its  attention  can  in  no 
way  be  concentrated,  then  no  apperceptional  power 
is  present.     The  child,  in  view  of  such  a  finding, 


182  CHILD    TRAINING 

must  be  looked  upon  as  uneducable  and  can  not 
be  the  object  of  remedial  pedagogic  treatment. 

The  fixation  test  gives  the  ultimate  decision  as 
to  whether  a  deficient  child  should  be  placed  in 
an  institution  for  the  educable  or  in  one  for  the 
uneducable  feeble-minded.  Heller  recommends 
that  institutions  for  educable  defectives  should  be 
under  the  direction  of  a  pedagog,  and  those  for 
the  uneducable  ones  under  the  direction  of  a  phy- 
sician. Strohmayer  expresses  himself  in  the  same 
manner,  making  the  premise,  however,  that  it  is 
always  the  physician  and  not  the  pedagog  who 
should  determine  the  qualifications  for  mental  de- 
velopment which  the  child  possesses,  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  institution  to  which  it  is  to  be  sent. 

It  is  extraordinarily  difficult  to  conceive  of  a 
mental  life  ruled  exclusively  by  passive  apper- 
ception. With  just  as  little  success  as  we  are  able 
to  represent  to  ourselves  an  "earliest"  stage  of 
development  of  consciousness,  will  we  ever  be  able 
to  conceive  of  a  state  of  obscured  consciousness  in 
which  a  concept  lifted  by  accidental  influences  over 
the  threshold  of  consciousness,  flares  up  rocket-like 
out  of  the  confusion  of  faded  impressions,  only  to 
disappear  without  leaving  any  permanent  trace. 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  183 

Defectives  whose  attention  can  be  passively 
aroused,  in  whom  intensive  sensory  stimuli  are 
followed  by  distinct  manifestations  of  "reaction, 
may  be  designated  as  educable  in  so  far  as  it  may 
be  possible,  by  the  employment  of  a  proper  method, 
to  transform  passive  attention  into  active  atten- 
tion. The  forms  of  active  and  of  passive  apper- 
ception differ  not  only  according  to  kind  but  also 
according  to  degree.  Wundt  expresses  himself  in 
regard  to  this  as  follows : 

"Careful  self-observation  reveals  that  active  ap- 
perception is  regularly  preceded  by  passive  apper- 
ception, since  at  first  it  is  with  a  sensation  of 
tolerance  that  we  receive  an  impression  and  only 
afterward  are  the  processes  of  attention  which  are 
connected  with  the  sensation  of  activity  set  into 
play." 

"While  in  passive  attention  only  a  conceptual 
motive  is  regularly  present,  in  active  attention  a 
variety  of  concepts,  from  which  a  selection  must 
be  made,  act  as  an  impelling  force.  The  con- 
nections between  both  forms  of  apperception  make 
it  clear  that  the  method  which  causes  the  child  to 
effect  a  choice  between  various  objects  is  the  one 
which  will  be  best  adapted  to  transform  passive 


184  CHILD    TRAINING 

attention  into  active  attention.  By  that  method 
a  new  factor  is  kindled  in  the  mind  of  the  child, 
a  factor  which  may  be  designated  as  psychic 
spontaneity  or  self-activity.  It  is  only  after  it  has 
reached  this  stage  of  mental  development  that  the 
weakminded  child  is  capable  of  voluntary  acts, 
for  passive  apperception  requires  merely  an  im- 
pulsive desire,  which  can  be  distinguished  only 
with  difficulty  from  reflex  and  automatic  move- 
ments. 

In  a  classification  of  idiocy  from  the  standpoint 
of  education  the  most  general  relationships  only 
can  be  considered,  for  each  case  of  idiocy  presents 
peculiarities  which,  when  carefully  considered, 
would  make  every  attempt  at  classification  futile. 
With  this  reservation  the  law  of  correspondence 
of  perception  and  fixation  may  be  applied  to  dis- 
tinguish three  groups  of  feeble-minded  persons,  as 
classified  by  Goddard,  the  term  feeble-minded  here 
being  used  as  a  generic  one  including  all  mental 
defectives  except  the  insane. 

First — The  Moron  group.  This  is  characterized 
by  spontaneous  development  of  active  apperception, 
which,  however,  is  not  able  to  furnish  the  concepts 
with  the  necessary  clearness  and  distinctness. 


ORGANIC   DEFECTS  185 

Second — The  Imbeciles.  In  these  we  will  ob- 
serve excitability  of  passive  attention  without  any 
spontaneous  development  of  active  apperception. 

Third — Idiots,  In  which  there  is  complete 
absence  of  all  attention,  even  of  passive  attention. 
Children  belonging  to  this  group  are  uneducable. 

Before  giving  further  attention  to  these  various 
forms  I  should  like  to  mention  a  proposition  more 
or  less  recently  made  and  locally  adopted  in  certain 
States,  that  uneducable  idiots,  who  are  almost  upon 
an  animal  plane,  as  well  as  "born  criminals"  and 
other  irretrievable  degenerates,  should  be  arti- 
ficially sterilized  in  order  to  prevent  them  from 
propagating  a  degenerate  progeny.  The  degenerate 
inmates  of  prisons  or  asylums  concern  us  but  little 
in  this  regard,  for  of  course  their  propagating  in- 
stinct can  find  no  vent.  But  many  persons  in  the 
classes  of  which  we  are  now  speaking  lead  lives 
of  unrestricted  freedom,  and  for  this  reason  con- 
stitute a  menace  to  human  society.  If  we  consider 
that  such  degenerates  by  means  of  a  simple  surgical 
procedure,  by  the  severance  of  the  seminal  ducts 
or  ovarian  tubes,  may  be  deprived  of  their  propa- 
gating ability,  without  thereby  being  divested  of 
their  potentia  cceundi,  then  we    must  admit  not 


186  CHILD    TRAINING 

only  that  this  procedure  does  not  appear  at  all 
inhuman,  but  also  that  it  seems  to  be  a  step  neces- 
sary for  the  public  welfare. 

These  reflections  lead  directly  to  the  question  of 
hereditary  predisposition  and  the  etiology  of 
feeble-mindedness  in  general.  In  considering  the 
cause  of  feeble-mindedness,  we  must  separate  con- 
genital or  primary  feeble-mindedness  from  the 
acquired  or  secondary  form  of  this  trouble.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  congenital  feeble-mindedness, 
in  the  majority  of  instances,  is  dependent  upon 
hereditary  taint.  Much  less  frequently  it  is  the 
result  of  injuries  to  the  head  of  the  child  during 
parturition.  Acquired  feeble-mindedness,  which 
is  comparatively  uncommon  in  childhood,  consists 
in  the  occurrence  in  congenitally  healthy  children 
of  a  marked  decline  of  the  mental  faculties  after 
a  period  of  normal  development,  in  consequence  of 
injurious  influences  which  directly  or  indirectly 
affect  the  brain.  Among  the  causes  of  acquired 
feeble-mindedness  in  childhood  the  acute  infectious 
diseases  (measles,  scarlet  fever,  meningitis,  etc.) 
stand  out  as  the  most  prevalent.  Next  in  order 
of  frequency  are  concussion  of  the  brain,  usually 
the  result  of  a  blow  or  a  fall  upon  the  head,  and 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  187 

then  severe  emotional  excitement,  more  particularly 
fright,  which,  as  Domrich  has  so  well  said,  in  the 
suddenness  of  its  occurrence,  the  brevity  of  its 
duration,  and  the  harmfulness  of  its  action,  re- 
sembles a  stroke  of  lightning.  Finally,  then,  states 
of  weakness  which  persist  after  exhausting  dis- 
eases, as  well  as  all  prolonged  states  of  malnutri- 
tion, may  inhibit  mental  development  and  thus 
lead  to  cases  of  acquired  feeble-mindedness. 

As  we  have  stated,  however,  congenital  feeble- 
mindedness and  the  hereditary  taint  upon  which 
it  is  usually  dependent,  are  of  far  greater  import 
than  the  more  or  less  infrequent  secondary  feeble- 
mindedness of  childhood. 

/  In  the  causation  of  these  congenital  forms  al-' 
:  coholism  in  the  parents  constitutes  a  specially  per- 
jnicious  influence.  Comparing  ten  families  of 
alcoholics  with  ten  families  of  non-alcoholics, 
Demme  has  shown  that  in  the  former  17.5  per  cent, 
and  in  the  latter  81.9  per  cent,  of  the  children 
were  mentally  normal.  Bourneville,  in  taking  the 
anamnesis  of  one  thousand  idiots,  found  alcoholism 
to  have  existed  in  471  cases  in  the  father,  in  84 
in  the  mother,  and  in  65  in  both  parents.  The 
greatest  factor  in  the  etiology  of  congenital  idiocy 


188  CHILD    TRAINING 

is  undoubtedly  furnished  by  the  existence  of  im- 
becility in  either  or  both  of  the  parents  at  the 
time  of  impregnation.  Syphilis,  as  a  directly 
transmitted  disease,  probably  follows  alcoholism  in 
point  of  importance  as  an  etiological  factor  in  the 
production  of  idiocy,  while  tuberculosis  of  the 
parents  through  its  general  enfeeblement  of  the 
germplasm,  ranks  last  in  deleterious  influence  upon 
the  physical  and  mental  development  of  the  child. 
The  etiological  influence  of  morbid  conditions 
which  affect  the  mother  during  pregnancy  should 
not  be  left  unmentioned.  These  conditions  include 
not  only  the  unhygienic  modes  of  life  and  dis- 
orders of  nutrition  to  which  pregnant  women  of 
the  lower  classes  are  almost  always  subject,  but, 
and  this  applies  to  all  classes  of  individuals, 
emotional  shocks  and  particularly  an  ascending 
gonorrhea  of  the  female  sexual  organs.  That  these 
pernicious  influences  can  not  fail  to  affect  the 
embryonal  development  of  the  child,  and  may  even 
promote  the  occurrence  of  congenital  idiocy,  even 
if  only  through  the  creation  of  a  predisposition  to 
disease,  is  manifest. 

If  we  assemble  all  the  factors  of  hereditary  in- 
fluence, we  have  a  gigantic  mass  in  which  inebriety, 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  189 

syphilis  and  other  constitutional  diseases  of  the 
parents,  anemia,  and  chronic  gonorrhea  of  the 
mother  show  their  effects  in  the  most  disastrous 
manner.  But  if  we  add  to  this,  as  we  must,  abject 
poverty,  which  renders  the  proper  nourishment 
and  care  of  the  hereditarily  tainted  children  diffi- 
cult or  impossible,  and  if  we  consider  that  these 
pitiable  creatures  are  even  looked  upon  as  a  burden 
by  their  procreators  and  are  neglected  in  every 
way,  or  entirely  abandoned,  then  the  catalog  of 
the  causes  which  govern  their  deterioration  has 
been  made  complete. 

In  addition  to  hereditary  taint,  the  only  other 
cause  of  congenital  feeble-mindedness  which  we 
have  to  consider  is  pressure  upon  the  head  of  the 
child  during  birth.  This  may  be  due  to  a  narrowed 
pelvis  of  the  mother  or  to  an  incorrect  adaptation 
of  the  forceps  in  instrumental  delivery.  The  pres- 
sure may  cause  hemorrhages  into  the  cortex  or  the 
interior  of  the  brain,  and  the  hemorrhages  in  turn 
may  carry  feeble-mindedness  in  their  train.  I 
have  seen  a  number  of  cases  in  which  no  other 
cause  than  traumatism  to  the  head  of  the  child 
during  labor  could  be  discovered.  Various  writers 
say  that  from  14  to  30  per  cent,   of  all  feeble- 


]f)0  CHILD    TRAINING 

minded  have  been  delivered  by  means  of  instru- 
ments or  that  their  delivery  has  been  unduly  de- 
layed. Furthermore,  it  has  been  shown  that  frac- 
tures of  the  infant  skull  may  occur  in  difficult  or 
prolonged  parturition,  even  when  no  instrumental 
delivery  has  taken  place. 

Still  another  injury  which  may  take  place  during 
parturition,  but  which  I  mention  only  incidentally, 
as  it  can  never  cause  feeble-mindedness  but  at  most, 
and  this  only  indirectly,  a  mental  backwardness, 
is  the  opthalmia  of  the  new^-born  which  formerly 
led  so  often  to  blindness,  to  a  loss  of  the  most  im- 
portant special  sensory  function.  Inasmuch  as  it 
has  been  proved  that  the  obligatory  employment 
of  the  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver,  first  advocated 
by  Crede,  prevents  this  gonorrhoeal  opthalmic  in- 
fection, I  need  not  dwell  upon  this  point. 

The  noxious  influences  which  hereditary  taint, 
injuries  to  the  skull,  infectious  diseases,  etc.,  exert 
in  the  production  of  idiocy,  are  of  moment  only 
in  so  far  as  they  affect  the  brain.  The  pathological 
changes  in  the  brain  dependent  upon  such  causes 
show  great  variations  even  microscopically.  In 
some  cases  the  arrest  of  development  is  so  extended 
that  the  cerebellum,  corpus  callosum,   and    other 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  191 

parts  of  the  brain  are  wanting.  Often  idiots  thus 
lacking  are  also  blind  or  deaf,  or  both  blind  and 
deaf.  Here  we  must  mention  the  form  of  idiocy 
first  described  by  B.  Sachs  of  New  York,  in  1887, 
as  an  arrest  of  cortical  development,  coming  on 
during  the  course  of  the  first  year  in  apparently 
healthy  children,  characterized  by  blindness  and 
paralyses,  and  rapidly  ending  in  death.  This 
form,  known  as  Amaurotic  family  idiocy,  is  unique 
among  congenital  diseases  because,  as  shown  sub- 
sequently, of  the  specific  and  characteristic  changes 
in  the  ganglion  cells  of  the  entire  nervous  system. 
Sometimes  skin  sensation  in  idiots  is  reduced  to 
the  point  of  complete  anesthesia.  It  seems  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  in  such  cases  the  absence  of 
sensory  functions  is  of  far  greater  import  than 
it  is  in  those  persons  who  are  blind  or  deaf  or  both 
blind  and  deaf  but  have  a  normal  brain  and  con- 
sequently are  not  feeble-minded. 

Occasionally,  also,  there  are  found  in  idiots 
translocations  of  brain  substance,  asymmetry  of  the 
two  halves  of  the  brain,  disturbed  relationship  of 
the  single  brain  parts  to  each  other,  and  abnor- 
malities of  the  convolutions,  such  as  diminution 
in  number  or  size.     Microscopically,  in  addition  to 


192  CHILD    TRAINING 

syphilitic  disease  of  the  blood-vessels,  we  encounter 
in  particular  two  different  groups  of  anomalies. 
In  some  cases  the  entire  brain  cortex  is  found  to 
be  upon  a  very  low  level  of  development,  having 
retained  its  fetal  characteristics;  in  other  cases 
the  entire  picture,  which  is  made  up  of  well- 
developed  cells  with  large  lacunffi  among  them, 
indicates  a  terminated  inflammatory  process. 

The  most  marked  alterations  of  the  brain  are 
evidenced  by  a  hydrocephalus  or  microcephalus. 
Hydrocephalus  consists  in  an  augmenting  accumu- 
lation of  fluid  in  the  cavities  of  the  brain,  especi- 
ally in  the  lateral  ventricles,  and  a  consequent 
expansion  of  the  skull,  whose  sutures  and  fon- 
tanelles  have  not  yet  closed.  The  brain,  however, 
does  not  increase  in  size  with  the  expansion  in  the 
circumference  of  the  skull ;  on  the  contrary,  as  a 
result  of  the  chronic  effusion  of  fluid,  its  mass  be- 
comes lessened.  The  accumulation  of  fluid  is 
caused  by  an  inflammatoiy  process  of  tuberculous 
origin,  while  the  non-closure  of  the  sutures  is  due 
to  rhachitis  and  the  softness  of  the  bones  which 
it  produces.  The  hydrocephalic  head  either  in- 
creases steadily  to  an  enormous  size,  or  the  en- 
largement ceases  permanently  at  an  early  stage, 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  193 

or  such  cessation  occurs  only  temporarily  and    is 
followed  later  by  a  new  and  extraordinary  increase. 

The  injury  which  the  brain  suffers  in  conse- 
quence of  the  internal  pressure  varies  in  extent 
and  depends  upon  the  rapidity  with  which  the 
fluid  increases  in  the  ventricles.  If  the  increase  in 
fluid  takes  place  slowly,  or  if  it  comes  to  an  early 
end,  the  disease  will  be  followed  by  a  feeble- 
mindedness of  mild  degree;  or,  if  the  brain  has 
been  able  to  adapt  itself  to  the  gradual  or  small 
increase  in  pressure,  mental  development  may  not 
become  at  all  disordered.  In  exceptional  instances, 
hydrocephalus  has  been  associated  with  unusual 
intellectual  development.  For  instance,  we  know 
that  Cuvier  and  Helmholtz,  in  their  youth,  were 
both  aflaicted  with  mild  hydrocephalus.  Hence 
hydrocephalus  in  a  child  does  not  necessarily  indi- 
cate mental  weakness,  nor  do  serous  meningitis 
and  rhachitis  necessarily  lead  to  hydrocephalic 
feeble-mindedness. 

In  microcephalus,  as  is  indicated  by  the  term 
itself,  skull  and  brain  are  unusually  small.  In 
consequence  of  the  smallness  of  the  skull,  the  fore- 
head is  low  and  slants  markedly  backward,  the 
vaulting  of  the  skull  is  slight,  the  occiput  appar- 


194  CHILD    TRAINING 

ently  absent,  the  arches  of  the  eyebrows  as  well 
as  the  nose  very  prominent,  the  chin  retreating, 
the  scalp  usually  thick  and  full  of  ridges.  Because 
of  this  formation  of  the  head,  the  microcephalic 
individual  has  an  animal-like  appearance.  Vogt 
has  attempted,  on  account  of  these  characteristics, 
to  explain  microcephaly  as  an  atavistic  formation, 
as  a  retrogression  to  a  common  primitive  stem,  a 
view  which,  however,  was  energetically  opposed  by 
Virchow.  If  we  are  to  judge  by  the  cases  that 
have  been  reported  in  literature,  the  hereditary 
transmissability  of  microcephaly  seems  to  be 
proved. 

Now  let  us  take  up  more  in  detail  the  etiology 
of  secondary  feeble-mindedness.  At  first,  tho,  we 
must  note  the  fact  that  it  is  not  always  possible  to 
determine  definitely  whether  a  case  is  one  of  con- 
genital or  acquired  feeble-mindedness,  for  in  some 
cases  there  is  present  from  the  beginning  a  certain 
inferiority,  a  weakness  of  the  nervous  system  which 
manifests  itself  in  abnormal  outbursts  of  fright, 
causeless  states  of  fear  and  similar  symptoms.  In 
such  children  a  relatively  slight  cause  may  be 
sufficient  to  produce  permanent  mental  impair- 
ment, which  usually  remains  unobserved  by  the 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  195 

too-considerate    parent    until    the    more    exacting 
demands  are  made  upon  the  child's  intelligence. 

The  main  factor  in  the  production  of  secondary 
feeble-mindedness  must  undoubtedly  be  sought  in 
the  convulsions  which  occur  so  frequently  in  chil- 
dren, and  which  may  be  due  to  minor  causes,  such 
for  instance,  as  intestinal  irritation,  digestive  dis- 
turbances, etc.  After  these  convulsions  it  is  not 
unusual  for  a  previously  healthy  child  of  normal 
mental  development  to  retrograde  or  even  to  pass 
into  a  state  of  distinct  feeble-mindedness.  Lange 
explains  this  through  the  specific  organization  of 
the  child's  brain,  which  tends  far  more  easily  to 
inflammation  and  hemorrhages  than  does  the  brain 
of  adults,  and  in  which  the  extraordinary  venous 
tension  existing  at  the  acme  of  the  convulsion 
suffices  to  cause  a  rupture  of  blood-vessels,  pro- 
ducing more  or  less  injury  of  the  brain.  Not  in- 
frequently the  state  of  mental  weakness  observed 
after  serious  and  exhausting  disease  passes  away 
of  itself,  after  a  time,  as  the  strength  of  the  body 
increases.  Occasionally,  however,  the  improve- 
ment that  takes  place  after  several  months  is  not 
followed,  as  might  be  expected,  by  complete  re- 
covery of  mental  integrity. 


196  CHILD    TRAINING 

Experience  shows  tliut  in  many  cases  of  secon- 
dary feeble-mindedness  memory  apparently  re- 
mains unaffected,  the  child  being  able  to  remember 
everything  that  has  occurred  during  its  sickness 
and  even  retain  the  knowledge  which  it  previously 
acquired  in  school ;  l)at  these  unconnected  frag- 
ments of  knowledge  the  child,  on  account  of  its 
feeble-mindedness,  does  not  know  how  to  use,  and 
they  can  not  be  utilized  as  a  basis  for  any  system- 
atic instruction.  In  other  cases,  however,  especi- 
ally in  those  which  occur  after  injury,  the  im- 
pairment of  mental  faculties  does  involve  the 
memory. 

In  the  case  of  a  six  year  old  boy  who  came  under 
my  observation  after  being  struck  upon  the  head, 
the  loss  of  memory  for  everything  antedating  the 
accident,  and  for  the  accident  itself,  lasted  for  two 
years.  Then  his  memory  returned,  but  he  re- 
mained decidedly  backward. 

Strohmayer  reports  the  case  of  a  boy  who  fell 
from  a  wagon,  and  who,  after  being  unconscious 
for  hours,  remained  permanently  weakminded  and 
lost  all  memory  not  only  of  the  accident  itself,  but 
also  of  his  entire  preceding  life.  Still,  cases  might 
be  cited  to  show  that  extended  injury  of  the  brain 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  197 

is  not  necessarily  followed  by  any  diminution  in 
intellectual  capacity.  In  fact,  almost  an  entire 
frontal  lobe  has  been  destroyed  without  involving 
loss  of  mental  integrity. 

Undoubtedly  the  period  of  pubescence  deserves 
special  consideration  as  a  factor  in  the  develop- 
ment of  secondary  feeble-mindedness.  The  view 
is  widespread  that  the  changes  which  occur  about 
the  period  of  puberty  are  able  to  bring  about  a 
spontaneous  improvement  of  an  existing  feeble- 
mindedness. This  view,  of  course,  is  wrong,  for 
congenital  feeble-mindedness,  as  well  as  that  which 
has  been  acquired  very  early  in  life,  both  show 
a  tendency  to  grow  worse  instead  of  better  under 
the  influence  of  these  changes.  This  is  shown  more 
especially  in  hebephrenia  or  dementia  praecox,  that 
acquired  form  of  mental  weakness  described  under 
various  names  by  Heinroth,  Esquirol,  Moreau, 
Morel  and  Maudsley,  but  by  none  better  than  by 
Edward  Hecker.  The  name  hebephrenia  is  due  to 
Kahlbaum,  that  of  dementia  praecox  to  Clouston, 
who  in  1888  spoke  of  ''premature  dementia." 

Hecker 's  description  is  as  follows:  "Usually  be- 
tween the  18th  and  22nd  years,  after  the  onset  of 
puberty,  beginning  with  a  melancholic  stage,  the 


198  CTTTLD    TRAINING 

disease  represents  in  a  way  a  pathological  and  dis- 
torted reversion  to  the  years  of  childhood  with 
their  characteristic  s^nnptoras  of  foolish  excita- 
bility. Hebephrenia  usually  ends  in  a  lasting 
dementia.  In  its  commencement  it  may  easily  be 
overlooked,  as  the  decline  of  mental  power  proceeds 
but  very  gradually  and  therefore  can  be  recognized 
only  through  close  observation.  A  symptom  of 
hebephrenic  dementia  which  is  almost  always  pres- 
ent is  excessive  masturbation,  carried  on  the  more 
recklessly  the  more  the  intellectual  defect  increases. 
Yet  it  would  be  erroneous  to  attribute  the  mental 
decline  to  the  masturbation,  inasmuch  as  this  de- 
cline takes  its  course  even  when  the  masturbatory 
acts  are  prevented  by  strict  supervision." 

Clouston,  summing  up  the  psychic  life  of  many 
primary  dementias,  says,  "Patients  simply  become 
less  acute  in  emotion  and  judgment,  less  powerful 
in  volition,  less  able  to  do  their  work  or  take  care 
of  themselves,  and  less  social  and  more  'silly,' 
these  symptoms  gradually  going  on  to  marked 
dementia."  These  citations  show  how  important 
this  problem  of  dementia  pra}Cox  is  for  the  upper 
grade  classes  of  high-school  pupils  who  are  at  the 
age  of  its  most  frequent  development. 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  199 

Now,  to  revert  to  the  various  forms  of  idiocy 
previously  mentioned,  it  will  be  found  that  in  the 
lightest  grades  of  congenital  feeble-mindedness  the 
power  of  spontaneously  directing  the  attention  to 
various  surrounding  objects  is  always  present,  but 
the  apperception,  as  a  rule,  is  so  superficial  and  of 
such  short  duration  that  relatively  few  ideas  are 
produced,  and  these  can  not  bear  comparison,  as  to 
clearness  and  precision,  with  the  corresponding 
concepts  of  normal  children.  The  more  limited 
and  incomplete  the  concepts  which  a  feeble-minded 
child  possesses,  the  more  difficult  does  the  test  for 
the  behavior  of  its  attention  become.  This  test  is, 
of  course,  influenced  by  the  particular  form  of 
feeble-mindedness,  by  the  presence  of  an  increased 
or  a  diminished  irritability — in  other  words,  by  the 
presence  of  excitement  or  apathy. 

In  testing  the  state  of  the  attention  in  an 
apathetic  imbecile  whose  entire  emotional  life  is 
under  the  influence  of  deep-seated  inhibitions, 
errors  may  easily  occur.  In  such  individuals  we 
find  an  all-pervading  sluggishness  of  every  activity, 
and  frequently  the  reaction  to  a  mental  impression 
follows  so  tardily  that  we  may  be  in  doubt  whether 
one  has  taken  place  at  all.     If,  for  instance,  an 


200  CHILD    TRAINING 

apathetic  imbecile  child  be  asked  to  distinguish  in 
sequence  between  the  objects  A  and  B,  the  request 
to  hand  the  object  A  may  be  carried  out  only  after 
the  object  B  had  already  been  asked  for,  and  thus 
may  mislead  the  observer  iiato  believing  the  child 
confounds  the  objects  A  and  B  with  each  other. 
In  excited  imbeciles  it  is  less  difficult  to  arouse  the 
attention,  but  their  attentiveness  is  so  unstable  or 
shifty  that  the  choice  between  different  objects 
becomes  difficult,  this  being  due  to  the  fact  that 
they  are  not  able  to  hold  any  idea  for  even  a  very 
brief  period  of  time.  The  peculiar  state  which  in 
the  normal  child  we  designate  as  inattention  or 
distraction  lends  a  very  characteristic  impress  to 
the  psychic  comportment  of  the  excited  imbecile. 
In  such  individuals,  even  when  they  are  but  slightly 
affected,  the  instability  of  the  attention  leads  to 
an  inconstancy  of  the  will  which  makes  them  in- 
capable of  forming  any  decision  based  upon  pre- 
cise deliberation.  The  apathetic  imbecile,  on  ac- 
count of  inadequate  conceptual  stimuli,  is  always 
behind  hand  in  his  determinations,  and  for  this 
reason,  if  for  no  other,  must  alwaj's  clash  with  the 
happenings  of  the  moment.  The  excited  imbecile 
acts  without  considering  the  possible  consequences 


1    > 


O         02 
-^  bx 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  201 

of  his  doings;  he  does  not  understand  how  to  esti- 
mate given  conditions  and  to  adapt  himself  to  his 
environment.  Consequently,  as  Heller  says,  every 
imbecile,  regardless  of  the  realities  of  life  which 
are  beyond  his  comprehension,  constructs  around 
himself  a  special  world. 

AVe  can  recognize  most  clearly  how  the  entire 
psychic  comportment  of  the  imbecile  is  funda- 
mentally governed  by  pathologically  altered  pro- 
cesses of  apperception.  This  may  also  be  said  of 
the  numerous  transitional  forms  of  imbecility, 
which  are  neither  pronouncedly  apathetic  nor 
excited,  and  in  which  a  careful  psychologic  analysis 
will  always  demonstrate  that  the  specific  manner  of 
each  individual  imbecile's  reaction  to  external  in- 
fluences is  dependent  upon  a  special  comportment 
of  his  attentiveness ;  thereby  also  we  are  able  in  part 
to  understand  his  anomalies  of  volition  and  action. 

The  feeble-minded  of  a  higher  grade — those  who 
might  almost  be  still  classed  as  imbeciles  and  give 
some  evidence  of  an  arousal  of  passive  attention, 
yet  show  no  spontaneous  development  of  active 
apperception — must  also  be  divided  into  the 
apathetic  and  the  excited.  Apathetic  idiots  of  this 
kind  sit  about  all  day  sunk  in  brooding  lethargy. 


202  CHILD    TRAINING 

Only  with  great  difficulty  can  their  attention  be 
excited.  Their  thoughts  follow  very  slowly,  and 
they  cling  with  difficulty  to  the  few  ideas  thus 
acquired  and  beyond  which  their  mental  horizon 
can  not  be  extended.  Their  psychic  manifestations 
show  marked  unvariability  and  monotony,  and  their 
emotions  as  well  are  persistently  and  unconcern- 
edly amiable.  While  eating,  their  contentment  is 
indicated  by  a  grinding  of  the  teeth.  Some  give 
evidence  of  pleasure  at  seeing  relatives  or  friends. 
In  general  the  vegetative  instincts  predominate. 
Emotions  of  the  more  complicated  kind,  such  as 
thankfulness,  sorrow,  etc.,  do  not  exist.  The  bodily 
activities  can  to  a  certain  degree  be  trained,  so 
that  these  children  may  learn  to  stand,  walk  and 
jump,  to  undress  themselves,  and,  when  the  teacher 
has  the  requisite  qualifications  and  perseverance, 
to  do  all  kinds  of  mechanical  work,  handicraft, 
gardening,  etc. 

The  attention  of  the  higher  grade  excited  idiots 
can  be  more  easily  aroused,  but  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  rivet  it.  They  are  constantly  being  distracted, 
and  wander  from  this  to  that.  They  connect  one 
idea  with  another  that  is  entirely  unrelated,  and 
soon  allow  both  to  sink  back  into  oblivion.     Their 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  203 

moods  are  vacillating ;  at  one  moment  they  are  in- 
temperately  joyous,  at  the  next  they  go  into  a  state 
of  irritability  and  peevishness.    Physically  they  are 
constantly  in  a  state  of  unrest;  they  run  about, 
clap  their  hands,  laugh,  cut  grimaces,  stick  all  sorts 
of   objects   into   their   mouths,   scream   or   babble 
senseless  stuff.     Notwithstanding  the  greater  ease 
with  which  their  passive  attention  may  be  aroused, 
they  are,   in  view  of  their  instability,   decidedly 
more  difficult  to  train  than  is  the  apathetic  idiot 
of  the  same  grade.    Frequently  they  manifest  an 
imitative  impulse.       Occasionally,  also,  they  have 
sense  deceptions  and  as  a  result  develop  delusions. 
Sometimes  the  feeble-minded  of  this  grade  assimi- 
late complete  series  of  impressions  and  add  them 
to  their  store  of  sensory  pictures.     In  certain  cases 
impressions  are  even  retained  for  an  unusual  length 
of  time.     Occasionally  there  exists  a  one-sided  but 
astonishingly  strong  development  of  the  memory 
for  music,  numbers,  etc.       Such  "idiot-savants" 
are  always  mere  imitators  and  never  give  evidence 
of  the  slightest  spontaneous  thought;  the  contrast 
between  their  one  talent  and  their  general  feeble- 
mindedness is  very  striking.       The  single  talent 
usually  is  very  precociously  developed  and  is  lost 


204  CHILD    TRAINING 

before  adult  life  is  reached.  Among  these  pre- 
cocious talents  the  one  most  frequently  encountered 
is  that  for  mental  arithmetic.  Of  thirteen  examples 
of  arithmetical  prodigies  collected  by  E.  W.  Scrip- 
ture in  1891,  six  were  men  of  eminence  or  genius, 
while  the  remaining  seven  were  idiots  possessing 
the  single  talent.  In  these  idiots,  however,  there 
can  be  no  question  of  any  development  of  the 
consciousness  of  self,  of  the  formation  of  a  mental 
personality,  as  the  one-sided  talent  ordinarily  is 
counterbalanced  by  more  marked  defects  of  the 
remaining  mental  powers,  so  that  any  independent 
elaboration  of  the  conceptual  store  is  entirely  out 
of  the  question. 

Finally,  in  so  far  as  the  feeble-minded  of  the 
third  and  lowest  grade  are  concerned,  these  are  so 
disordered  in  their  elementary  functions,  that  they 
remain  decidedly  behind  the  state  even  of  a  young 
animal.  Even  sucking  nourishment  from  the 
mother's  breast  is  difficult  for  the  new-born  lowest 
grade  idiot,  and  often  enough  also  in  later  years 
these  children  must  be  fed  and  nourished  by 
means  of  paps  and  fluids.  These  same  idiots  are 
aroused  from  their  torpidity  only  by  a  certain  few 
sensations;  above  all,  hunger  produces  a  state  of 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  205 

restlessness  in  them.  Many,  however,  go  without 
food  astonishingly  long,  and  would,  perhaps,  starve 
if  nourishment  were  not  forced  upon  them. 
Where  there  exists  so  limited  a  store  of  ideas  or 
instincts,  restricted  almost  exclusively  to  satisfying 
the  animal  desires,  associative  thought,  as  "Wey- 
gandt  justly  remarks,  plays  a  very  minimal  role. 
The  sight  of  food  most  easily  arouses  corresponding 
concepts  in  these  idiots.  Often  even  the  desire  for 
defecation  and  urination  is  not  felt,  and  for  this 
reason  many  of  these  idiotic  children  are  always 
unclean.  Even  processes  of  disease  do  not  call 
forth  any  psychic  expression  of  fear  or  of  pain, 
so  that  low-grade  idiots  may  die  quietly  as  a  result 
of  such  serious  and  otherwise  painful  diseases  as 
pleuro-pneumonia,  meningitis,  etc. 

Where  almost  all  concepts  are  absent,  where  at- 
tention of  any  kind  can  not  be  aroused  even  by 
the  most  intense  excitation,  there  can  scarcely  be 
a  question  of  memory  and  still  less  of  spontaneous 
thought  activity,  of  formation  of  opinion  and  de- 
cision, or  of  the  development  of  any  consciousness 
of  self.  For  idiots  upon  this  lowest  plane,  which 
is  often  complicated  by  blindness,  deafness,  and 
other  sense  defects,  the  acquirement  of  speech  is 


206  CHILD    TRAINING 

entirely  impossible;  there  exists  either  complete 
mutism  or  instead  of  speech  a  stupid  gibbering  and 
screeching.  Motor  accomplishments  also  are  of  the 
simplest  kind.  It  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  success 
in  some  of  these  children  if  they  can  be  taught  even 
to  sit  up.  Others  manifest  continuous  restless- 
ness and  motor  agitation,  without  being  able  to 
carry  out  the  slightest  purposeful  movement. 
Occasionally  these  idiots  later  lose  entirely  that 
knowledge  of  walking  which  they  had  already 
acquired,  and  hold  their  legs  in  a  posture  adapted 
to  creeping.  An  important  role  is  played  in  idiocy 
by  the  imperative  or  obsessive  movements  which, 
without  any  sense  or  purpose,  cause  the  arms  and 
legs  to  be  metrically  raised  and  lowered,  the  body 
to  be  bent  and  turned,  and  the  facial  muscles  to  be 
distorted  into  grimaces.  Such  movements  of  the 
extremities,  sometimes  dependent  upon  cortical 
irritation,  may  be  sufficiently  violent  to  produce 
self-injury,  yet  the  markedly  insensitive  idiot 
makes  no  attempt  to  arrest  them. 

In  about  one-half  of  these  untrainable  feeble- 
minded children,  we  encounter  convulsions  of 
epileptiform  nature,  which  in  connection  with 
complete  or  incomplete  unilateral  paralysis,  con- 


ORGANIC  DEFECTS  207 

tractures,  choreiform  movements,  increase  or  ab- 
sence of  the  deep  reflexes,  diseases  of  co-ordination, 
etc.,  point  to  pathological  changes  in  the  central 
nervous  system.  Evidences  of  degeneration  are 
especially  frequent  and  marked — for  instance, 
heavy  ear  lobes  with  lobules  missing  so  they  re- 
semble a  pitcher  handle,  noticeably  high  or  flat 
palates,  a  protrusion  of  the  lower  jaws  or  of  the 
central  part  of  the  upper  jaw,  developmental 
defects  in  the  sexual  organs,  absence  of  the  hair  on 
face  and  body,  cleft  palate,  dwarfism,  abnormal 
skull  formation,  etc.  Yet  cases  in  which  the  ap- 
pearance alone  would  not  excite  a  suspicion  of  the 
existence  of  an  incurable  degree  of  idiocy  are  not 
infrequent. 

Common  to  the  feeble-minded  of  all  but  the  very 
highest  grades  are  disorders  of  speech,  the  degree 
of  which  does  not  necessarily  correspond  to  the 
weakness  of  intelligence.  It  may  happen  that  a 
high-grade  idiot  may  be  as  far  advanced  in  its 
speech  development  as  a  low-grade  imbecile,  and 
for  this  reason  it  would  be  an  error  to  classify 
the  various  grades  and  forms  of  feeble-minded- 
ness  in  accordance  with  the  manner  of  speaking. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  find  many  of  the  lower- 


208  CHILD    TRAINING 

grade  idiots  who  are  completely  wanting  in  any 
apperceptional  power,  capable  of  mechanically 
imitating  the  spoken  word,  without  having  any 
idea  of  the  meaning.  It  has  already  been  men- 
tioned that  the  stammering  and  a^gramatism 
of  feeble-minded  children  are  identical  with  those 
peculiarities  of  speech  which  in  the  normal  child 
are  temporary,  and  are  observed  only  at  an  early 
stage  of  its  speech  development;  in  the  idiotic 
child  these  defects  remain  permanent. 

A  form  of  speech  disorder  which  may  be  con- 
trasted with  those  forms  dependent  on  an  insuffi- 
cient development  of  intelligence  is  aphasia.  In 
cortical  motor  "aphasia,  which  has  been  longest 
known,  speech  understanding  remains  preserved, 
but  the  children  are  not  able  to  speak  because  the 
center  for  speech  movements  is  disordered. 

Finally,  a  word  as  to  stuttering.  This  defect, 
which  is  often  supposed  by  the  uninformed,  to  be 
a  sign  of  mental  deficiency,  long  ago  was  shown  to 
have  no  causal  relationship  whatever  to  idiocy  or 
feeble-mindedness. 

It  behooves  us  yet  to  consider  that  ethical  in- 
feriority (moral  insanity)  which  in  many  idiots  is 
an   accompaniment   of  the   intellectual   weakness. 


ORGANIC   DEFECTS  209 

Here  again  we  must  differentiate  various  grades, 
since  all  possible  degrees,  from  moral  indifference 
to  complete  perversity  of  the  instincts  and 
emotions,  may  be  present.  There  exist  feeble- 
minded children  whose  moral  conduct  leaves  noth- 
ing to  be  desired,  and  the  evil  tendencies  and 
habits  of  many  others  are  essentially  the  product 
of  neglect  or  bad  training,  as  is  best  proved  by 
their  being  culturable  not  only  intellectually  but 
also  morally  and  emotionally.  There  are  still 
others,  however,  in  whom  a  congenital  moral  de- 
generation exists,  and  with  these  all  attempts  at 
training  will  remain  fruitless. 

Congenital  moral  imbecility  may  be  looked  upon, 
as  Spencer  has  shown,  as  a  state  of  persistence  at 
that  stage  of  development  in  which  the  egoistic 
impulses  predominate.  "While  every  human  being 
during  his  first  years  "passes  through  a  phase  of 
that  moral  state  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
barbaric  stem  from  which  he  is  descended,"  and 
while  normal  children  progress  from  the  stage  of 
the  savage  to  that  of  the  morally  cultured  being, 
the  moral  imbecile  does  not  advance  beyond  the 
savage  stage.  His  memory  is  usually  good,  and  he 
may  become  clever  at  games  and  mechanical  pur- 


210  CHILD    TRAINING 

suit — in  fact,  he  is  often  musical  and  sometimes 
artistic — yet  he  is  always  egotistic,  conceited, 
boastful  and  untruthful.  In  such  children  altruistic 
feelings  are  absent;  all  their  acts  disclose  an  in- 
credible brutality ;  the  most  vicious  means  are  used 
by  them  in  order  to  gain  an  advantage;  good 
example  makes  no  impression,  and  punishment 
remains  entirely  without  effect.  Such  moral  de- 
generates, frequently  epileptic,  assiduously  practise 
masturbation,  and  even  endeavor  to  satisfy  their 
intense  sexual  impulses  through  attacks  on  persons 
of  the  opposite  se^'  Anti-social  actions  of  this  and 
other  kinds,  the  antipathy  of  these  creatures  to 
all  work,  their  tendency  to  vagabondage  and  pros- 
titution, as  a  rule  lead  them  into  far-reaching 
criminality,  until  finally  their  moral  defect  is 
recognized  and  its  criminal  manifestations  coun- 
teracted by  internment  in  some  institution  for  the 
care  of  the  incurable  feeble-minded. 

B.  Functional  Disorders 

From  the  chapter  of  those  mental  disorders  of 
childhood  which  are  based  upon  bodily  abnor- 
mality, let  us  turn  our  attention  to  the  nervous 
disturbance  of  a  functional  character. 


Courtesy  of  Dr.  W.    E.   Fernald. 

Microcephalic  Idiot. 
Massachusetts  School  for  Feeble-minded. 


FUNCTIONAL   DISORDERS  211 

During  the  last  decade  so  much  has  been  written 
about  nervousness  in  childhood  that  it  is  not  easy 
for  the  impartial  observer  to  arrive  at  a  conclusive 
opinion  from  these  writings,  which  conflict  with 
one  another  in  so  many  ways.  According  to  many 
authors,  it  is  the  school  which  is  responsible  for 
the  increasing  nervousness  of  childhood.  This  is 
partly  true,  for  the  school  must  reckon  with  a 
certain  average  qualification  and  must  formulate 
its  demands  accordingly.  It  may  easily  happen, 
therefore,  that  the  less  talented  child,  in  order  not 
to  remain  behind  other  children,  will  be  obliged 
to  over-exert  itself,  until  finally  it  is  no  longer  able 
to  keep  pace,  and  breaks  down  under  the  over- 
strain. We  will  see  later  how,  by  means  of  the 
Montessori  method,  this  problem  of  over-strain  in 
school  may  be  solved.  For  the  moment  we  will 
emphasize  the  fact  that  a  close  observation  of 
nervous  children  will  always  reveal  them  to  be 
individuals  of  a  neuropathic  taint,  having  either 
congenitally  diminished  powers  of  nerve  resistance 
or  a  nervous  system  which  has  been  deleteriously 
affected  by  disease  of  early  childhood. 

Three  categories  of  nervous  children  may  be 
differentiated.     There  are   children   in  whom  the 


212  CHILD    TRAINING 

nervous  symptoms  pass  away  of  themselves  with 
increasing  age,  so  that  by  the  time  they  are  ready 
for  school,  they  show  a  fairly  normal  disposition. 
In  other  children,  except  for  slight  variations 
caused  by  the  greater  or  lesser  demands  upon  their 
capabilities,  the  nervousness  remains  constant  and 
then  forms  the  basal  note  to  which  their  entire 
psychic  development  is  attuned.  The  third  cate- 
gory is  characterized  by  a  constantly  progressive 
increase  of  the  nervous  state. 

All  these  nervous  children  react  to  relatively 
slight  excitations,  with  abnormally  intense  emo- 
tional outbreaks;  the  emotional  reaction  is  of  un- 
usual persistency  and  does  not  pass  away  with  a 
cessation  of  the  excitation.  The  children  are  easily 
fatigued  and  recuperate  slowly.  A  noticeable  in- 
crease of  the  nervous  manifestations  is  produced 
by  happenings  which  would  not  at  all  affect  a 
normal  child,  or,  at  any  rate,  would  not  affect  it 
unfavorably.  Children  who  have  this  failing  are 
found,  upon  attaining  the  school  age,  to  be  in  a 
state  that  necessarily  precludes  all  profitable  in- 
struction. At  the  same  time  no  organic  changes 
to  explain  the  nervous  functional  incapacity  are 
demonstrable,   and  these  children,  being,   as  they 


FUNCTIONAL  DISORDERS  213 

are,  upon  the  boundary  between  health  and  disease, 
can  be  recognized  as  "atypical"  only  by  means  of 
the  psychic  methods  of  examination  which  we  have 
alread}'  mentioned. 

One  of  the  symptoms  most  frequently  present  in 
the  nervous  child  is  disordered  sleep.  Nocturnal 
terror,  talking,  screaming,  and  constant  changing 
of  posture  during  sleep,  are  nervous  manifesta- 
tions to  which  marked  significance  must  be  given, 
provided  they  occur  persistently  over  a  long  period 
of  time.  The  exhaustion  which  follows  restless,  un- 
ref resiling  sleep,  must  in  time  lead  to  increased 
nervousness,  which  in  turn  becomes  a  source  of 
still  more  restless  sleep,  so  that  a  mutational  inter- 
action takes  place  similar  to  that  which  we  have 
noted  as  existing  in  the  case  of  masturbation. 
Further  nervous  symptoms  of  great  importance  are 
abnormal  excitability,  causeless  attacks  of  anger, 
dizziness  and  headaches.  Many  children  who  other- 
wise seem  healthy  have  frequent  headaches  without 
ascertainable  cause.  Usually  this  would  seem  to 
be  a  fatigue  symptom  occurring  toward  the  end 
of  an  instruction  period  in  an  organism  of  dimin- 
ished resistance.  In  other  cases  these  symptoms 
are  often  accompanied  by  phobias  and  obsessions 


21-1  CHILD    TRAINING 

of  varied  kiud,   which  may   or   may   not  load  to 
peculiar  imperative  acts. 

Of  the  phobias  many  are  looked  upon  as  idiosyn- 
crasies, from  which  they  often  can  not  be  dis- 
tinguished. Such,  more  particularly,  are  a  terror 
of  certain  kinds  of  animals,  mice,  spiders,  worms, 
and  cats;  an  antipathy  to  certain  forms  of  food, 
as  the  white  of  eggs,  the  skin  of  boiled  milk,  etc. ; 
still  others  are  a  fear  of  the  dark  and  of  thunder. 
The  most  common  obsessions  are  those  through 
which  children  are  impelled  to  count  everything, 
the  steps  on  the  stairs,  the  cracks  in  the  sidewalk, 
etc.;  and  these  are  frequently  associated  with  one 
of  doubt  which  leads  them,  in  the  belief  that  they 
have  made  mistakes,  to  go  back  and  count  the  same 
steps  and  cracks  over  again.  Obsessions  of  doubt 
also  may  occur  alone,  the  children  thus  troubled 
being  unable,  for  instance,  to  dispel  the  thought 
that  they  have  not  properly  closed  a  door,  or 
properly  washed  their  hands,  or  done  their  school 
work  as  they  should,  or  told  the  absolute  truth. 
Closely  allied  to  these  obsessions,  all  of  which  are 
indicative  of  a  neurasthenic  state,  are  those  in 
which  the  idea  is  followed  by  a  motor  manifesta- 
tion.    These  are  the  tics  or  habit  spasms,  which 


FUNCTIONAL  DISORDERS  215 

consist  in  blinking  the  eyelids,  head-nodding,  and 
head-jerking,  gesticulatory  movements  and  the 
emission  of  raucous  tones  and  noises. 

Among  the  obsessions,  furthermore,  must  often 
be  classed  that  impulse  for  collecting  which  in- 
duces children  to  assemble  the  most  extraordinary- 
things,  and  also  that  mania  for  excessive  order  and 
cleanliness  which  is  encountered  in  some  neuras- 
thenic children.  Strohmeyer  designates  this  as  a 
conscience  impulse,  and  tells  of  children  who  were 
impelled  by  their  pedantic  sense  of  symmetry  to 
place  things  in  order  not  only  in  their  own  homes 
but  in  other  places — yes,  even  to  take  the  various 
foods  of  their  meals  according  to  alphabetic  se- 
quence. 

That  Protean  phase  of  disease  known  as  hysteria 
also  is  not  infrequent  in  childhood,  the  percentage 
of  boys  and  girls  affected  being  about  equal. 
Through  the  power  of  their  imagination  the 
afflicted  children  produce  paralysis  and  all  the 
other  symptoms  of  disease  which  we  can  also 
observe  in  the  adult  hysteric.  As  a  rule,  the  juve- 
nile hysteric  progresses  most  rapidly  in  intellectual 
development.  To  a  certain  extent  this  is  due  to 
the  desire,  common  to  all  hysterics,  to  force  them- 


216  CHILD    TRAINING 

selves  into  the  foreground  of  interest  to  arouse 
the  attention  of  other  persons.  Nevertheless  the 
intelligence  of  hysterical  children  ordinaril}^  shows 
conspicuous  gaps,  which  are  not  overshadowed  by 
their  precocionsness,  and  which  can  be  overlooked 
only  by  unobserving  parents  or  teachers.  At  any 
rate,  the  intelligence  of  hysterical  children  does  not 
by  any  means  keep  them  from  allowing  their 
unlimited  egotism  always  and  everywhere  to 
transgress  all  restraint.  Among  them  are  many 
little  barbarians  who  do  not  recoil  at  any  infamy, 
lying,  slander,  theft,  or  incendiarism,  and  who, 
through  the  subtlety  with  which  they  endeavor  to 
satisfy  their  desires,  give  evidence  of  a  high  degree 
of  moral  degradation.  Such  children  are  especi- 
ally subject  to  psychic  contagion,  and  this  accounts 
for  those  mental  epidemics  which  sometimes  go 
through  an  entire  school.  Hysterical  tremors,  con- 
vulsions, paralysis,  coughs  or  choreiform  move- 
ments have  been  known  to  start  in  one  child,  then 
affect  another  and  thus  implicate  every  susceptible 
child  in  the  various  classes  until,  to  stamp  out  the 
epidemic,  it  became  necessary  to  close  the  school 
and  isolate  the  affected  children. 

This  phenomenon  is  of  importance  in  reaching 


FUNCTIONAL  DISORDERS  217 

an  understanding  of  those  psychic  epidemics  which 
may  occur  in  the  later  lives  of  these  very  same 
individuals.  Every  one  at  all  conversant  with 
history  knows  how  a  relatively  slight  provocation 
may  cause  an  eruption  of  violence  in  masses  of 
people  suffering  from  general  discontent.  An 
outbreak  of  this  kind  is  not  always,  as  might  be 
assumed,  of  political  nature;  not  infrequently  it 
originates  in  that  religious  exaltation  which  we 
neurologists  so  frequently  observe  in  neurotic  and, 
more  particularly,  in  hysterical  individuals. 
Pedagogy  can  not  pass  by  such  psychic  manifesta- 
tions, whether  they  disclose  themselves  in  the  form 
of  political  revolution  or  religious  exaltation,  with- 
out taking  a  definite  stand.  The  victims  of  these 
exalted  ideas  are  always  individuals  with  inferior 
brains,  with  nervous  systems  deficient  in  powers  of 
resistance ;  and  the  psychiatric  literature  is  replete 
with  reports  of  horrifying  crimes  committed  by 
children  while  in  hysterical  conditions  or  in  states 
of  religious  exaltation.  It  is  certain  that  these 
germs  of  crime,  no  matter  under  what  guise  they 
appear,  will  proliferate  and  overgrow  in  conse- 
quence of  a  misguided  education,  just  as  on  the 
other  hand  they  may  at  least  be  rendered  harmless 


218  CHILD    TRAINING 

through  properly  adapted  pedagogic  and  medical 
measures. 

If  we  again  survey  the  entire  field  of  psychic 
abnormalities  of  childhood,  we  note  first  and  fore- 
most the  disorders  of  the  intellect  and  the  diseases 
of  the  will.  The  disorders  of  the  intellect  manifest 
themselves  chiefly  in  a  mental  retardation,  which 
is  not  necessarily  dependent  upon  intellectual 
weakness,  but  may  also  be  caused  by  simple  paucity 
of  ideas  and  a  concomitant  incapacity  for  orderly 
thought  association  and  formation  of  judgment. 
Especially  let  us  again  recall  that  through  obstruc- 
tion of  nasal  breathing,  or  partly  through  the 
absence  of  the  thyroid  function  or  through  the 
absence  of  sense  perceptions  in  blindness  and  deaf- 
ness, or,  finally,  in  consequence  of  complete  neglect, 
a  weakness  of  the  intellect,  which  in  reality  does 
not  exist,  may  be  simulated.  Mental  retardation 
must  therefore  not  be  confounded  with  genuine 
mental  weakness,  with  primary  or  secondary 
feeble-mindedness,  dependent  respectively  upon 
congenital  brain  defects  or  upon  brain  defects 
acquired  at  an  early  age. 

Among  the  various  grades  of  genuine  feeble- 
mindedness,  we  must   again   distinguish  between 


FUNCTIONAL  DISORDERS  219 

those  which  are  educable  and  those  which  are  un- 
educable.  So  far  as  disorders  of  the  will  are  con- 
cerned, these  may  be  dependent  upon  a  weakness 
of  the  intelligence  and  an  inability  to  appreciate 
the  significance  of  one's  acts.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  also  possible  that  the  intelligence  and  power 
of  thought  may  be  unaffected,  while  the  feelings 
and  emotions,  the  character  and  moral  sense,  are 
so  altered  pathologically  that  the  impulse  toward 
the  commission  of  immoral  acts  can  not  be  resisted, 
notw^ithstanding  the  recognition  of  their  repre- 
hensibility.  Finally,  we  have  also  become  ac- 
quainted with  a  large  class  of  psychopathic  indi- 
viduals who  are  such  not  in  consequence  of  organic 
defects  but  on  account  of  functional  nervous  dis- 
orders due,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  to  neuropathic 
taint,  and  who,  intellectually  as  well  as  ethically, 
occupy  a  border-line  between  health  and  disease. 


PART   FOURTH 
PROPHYLACTIC    TRAINING 

A.  The  Parents 

Prophylactic  training  should  start  with  the  par- 
ents even  before  the  children  are  born.  For  if  the 
children  come  into  the  world  afflicted  with  constitu- 
tional anomalies,  it  will,  indeed,  be  a  difficult  task 
to  combat  successfully  the  psychic  defects  which 
develop  upon  congenitally  syphilitic,  rhachitic  or 
neurasthenic  soil.  We  have  seen  how  important 
a  part  hereditary  taint  plays  in  the  production  of 
the  physical  and  mental  abnormalities  of  the  child ; 
we  also  know  that  the  ominous  significance  of 
hereditary  influence  is  enhanced  by  the  erroneous 
training  usually  received  in  the  parental  home  of 
children  afflicted  with  such  abnormality.  It 
is,  therefore,  most  important  to  restrict  the 
influence  of  heredity  as  far  as  possible,  and  to 
remember  that  in  the  field  of  prophylactic  educa- 
tion, as  in  so  many  others,  the  adage,  "prevention 
is  better  than  cure,"  holds  good. 
221 


222  CHILD    TRAINING 

Hereditary  taint  with  its  pernicious  consequences, 
could  best  be  obviated  if  steps  were  taken  to  pre- 
vent the  birth  of  those  children,  who,  according 
to  all  probability,  could  not  escape  the  degeneracy 
linked  with  faults  existing  in  the  parents.  Our 
legal  enactments  are  by  no  means  adequate  for 
the  attainment  of  this  end;  for,  while  they  well 
may  prevent  the  marriage  of  insane  or  other  de- 
generate persons,  they  can  not  prevent  them  from 
extramaritally  propagating  their  kind.  It  is  for 
this  reason  that  I  now  return  to  the  proposal  al- 
ready mentioned,  whereby  through  an  operative 
intervention  the  fertilization  of  the  ovum  and  the 
generation  of  offspring  are  prevented,  but  the  in- 
dividuals are  not  deprived  of  their  reproductive 
organs  nor  of  their  copulative  powers.  It  is  not 
so  much  a  question  of  preventing  their  marriage 
as  it  is  of  preventing  them,  whether  married  or 
not,  from  giving  birth  to  degenerate  offspring. 
This  is  why  I  am  not  in  entire  accord  with  those 
who  would  extend  even  further  the  laws  against 
marriage  of  persons  closely  related  by  ties  of  blood. 
Marriage  between  blood  relations  becomes  a  menace 
to  the  progeny  only  when  both  parents  are  afflicted 
with  morbid  familial  peculiarities  which,  through 


THE   PARENTS  223 

the  union,  become  aggregated  in  the  children; 
moreover,  should  this  danger  be  present,  its  evil 
results  could  still  be  avoided  by  a  prevention  of 
conception.  This  same  measure  may  also  be  advo- 
cated when,  after  marriage,  the  parents  become 
afflicted  with  those  constitutional  disorders  which 
we  know  from  experience  may  become  a  menace 
to  the  health  of  their  children.  The  moral  and 
ethical  aspect  of  the  question  of  the  prevention  of 
fecundation  I  expect  to  consider  at  another  time. 
Of  course,  this  step  for  the  restriction  of  hereditary 
taint  can  not  be  enforced  by  legal  provision;  but 
the  severance  of  the  seminal  ducts  or  ovarian  tubes 
of  incurable  degenerates,  especially  in  those  with 
criminal  instincts,  has  already  been  adopted  as  a 
legal  measure  in  several  states  of  the  Union  with 
the  purpose  of  preventing  the  transmission  and 
dissemination  of  bodily  and  mental  degeneracy. 
All  legal  enactments  will  fail  of  their  purpose, 
however,  if  the  people  have  not  first  been  instructed 
and  enlightened,  and  nowhere  is  this  of  greater 
importance  than  in  the  field  of  the  hereditary 
transmission  of  disease. 

The  next  measure  to  be  considered  is  the  cure 
of  constitutional  anomalies,  in  so  far  as  such  cure 


224  CHILD    TRAINING 

lies  within  the  range  of  possibility.  In  the  treat- 
ment of  pure  neuroses,  psychotherapy,  which  also 
plays  a  large  role  in  the  management  of  the 
neuroses  of  cliildliood,  must  be  accorded  the  con- 
sideration which  it  deserves.  Parents  must  be 
made  to  understand  that  hysteria,  neurasthenia  and 
other  functional  nervous  disorders  warrant  the 
expectation  of  neuropathically  tainted  progeny,  and 
that  other  diseased  states,  above  all  syphilis  and 
tuberculosis,  establish  a  primarily  morbidly  altered 
germplasm,  or  will,  by  means  of  persistent  noxious 
influences  acting  through  the  placental  circulation, 
deleteriously  affect  the  development  of  the  embryo. 
Not  the  least  of  such  noxious  influences  is  the 
addiction  to  alcoholic  stimulants.  To  a  certain 
extent  appreciation  of  the  pernicious  influence 
which  alcoholism  in  the  parents  has  upon  the 
procreative  act  and  upon  pregnancy  is  at  last  be- 
ginning to  be  diffused  among  all  classes  of  people. 
In  the  main,  it  is  the  task  of  the  physician  to  aid 
in  the  dissemination  of  this  knowledge,  and  he 
should  rather  caution  against  the  use  of  alcohol  in 
any  form  on  account  of  its  eminently  toxic  prop- 
erties than  advocate  its  employment  on  account  of 
its  slight  therapeutic  qualities.     All  this  is  import- 


THE   PARENTS  225 

ant  not  only  in  view  of  the  severe  disorders  of 
mind  and  body  to  which  the  children  of  alcoholic 
parents  are  inevitably  exposed,  but  also  because 
alcoholic,  nervous,  or  otherwise  diseased  parents 
are  improper  educators,  and  therefore  are  likely  to 
add  to  the  evil  consequences  of  hereditary  taint 
all  those  pernicious  influences  which  capriciousness, 
injustice,  and  coarseness  will  have  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  the  wretched  offspring.  Parents  who,  not 
having  been  properly  trained,  are  unable  to  control 
themselves,  certainly  can  not  train  their  children 
properly.  Here  I  can  but  repeat  what  I  have 
already  said  in  my  book  on  Suggestion  and  Psycho- 
therapy: "Adults,  too,  require  training — fre- 
quently more  so  than  children.  Consider,  for 
example,  those  drones  of  wealth  whose  entire  lives 
are  filled  with  outward  form  and  trivialities,  whose 
lack  of  serious  purpose  makes  them  easy  victims 
to  the  unbridled  play  of  their  imaginations.  Con- 
stituting, as  they  do,  so  large  a  proportion  of 
sufferers  from  neurasthenia  and  other  psycho- 
neuroses,  they  teach  us  particularly  that  inordinate 
relaxation  leads  to  imaginary  disorders,  ideational 
diseases,  quite  as  much  as  does  overtaxation 
through  work.     When  races  or  individuals — ener- 


226  CHILD    TRAINING 

vated  through  luxurious  living,  unwilling  to 
accept  further  cares  and  obligations — look  on  hard 
work  as  a  disgrace,  they  represent  the  dead  twigs 
of  humanity,  which  have  fallen  and  must  be  re- 
placed by  fresh  shoots;  they  have  become  useless 
and  must  give  place  to  those  who,  through  earnest 
work,  have  remained  young,  strong,  and  active." 

The   domain   of  prophylactic   education  of  the 
parents  also  includes,  as  we  have  indicated,  a  proper 
surveillance  of  the  pregnant  state.     In  women  who 
have  already  given  birth  to  weak-minded  children, 
or  who  have  lost  children  through  brain  disease 
and  convulsions,  this  surveillance  must  be  enforced 
with  special  care.       Berkhan  reports  a  series  of 
cases  of  mothers  who,  despite  the  fact  that  they 
had  previously  given  birth  to  premature  or  feeble- 
minded children,  or  solely  to  children  who  had  died 
in  convulsions,  brought  healthy  children  into  the 
world   after   subjecting   themselves,    during   preg- 
nancy, to  a  special  dietetic  and  hygienic  mode  of 
living.     What  counts  particularly   in   such  cases 
is  not  so  much  nutritious  and  strengthening  food 
as  a  complete  change  in  the  daily  habits  and  mode 
of    life.     This    change,    together    with    the    tonic 
remedies  employed,   is  said  to  effect  a  complete 


THE   PARENTS  227 

transformation  of  the  woman's  constitution  and 
thereby  to  influence  favorably  the  embryonal 
development  of  the  child.  Unfortunately,  in  the 
employment  of  such  methods  among  the  poor, 
almost  insurmountable  difficulties  are  encountered, 
as  the  mothers  must  continue  to  work  hard  in 
order  to  support  themselves  or  to  maintain  their 
homes. 

The  not  unusual  occurrence  of  brain  disorder 
and  the  subsequent  development  of  feeble-minded- 
ness  after  head  pressure  caused  by  incorrectly 
adapted  forceps  during  instrumental  delivery 
shows  the  necessity  for  guarding  the  infantile  skull 
from  all  injury  during  the  act  of  parturition. 

Additional  instruction  which  should  form  part 
of  the  prophylactic  training  of  the  parents  con- 
cerns the  means  of  properly  nourishing  and  caring 
for  their  new-born.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  I  must 
here  again  lay  stress  upon  the  necessity  for  teach- 
ing parents  that  the  administration  of  alcohol  in 
any  form,  and  even  in  the  smallest  quantity,  for 
the  purpose  of  strengthening  or  quieting  the  child, 
is  inadvisable.  We  will  refer  to  this  again  far- 
ther on. 


228  CHILD    TKAININa 


B.  The  Children 

While  the  object  of  all  prophylactic  training  of 
the  parents  is  to  eliminate,  so  far  as  possible,  the 
factor  of  hereditary  taint  and  to  enable  them  to 
bring  into  the  world  bodily  and  mentally  healthy 
children,  all  measures  of  prevention  which  concern 
the  child  itself  have  a  twofold  purpose — to  pro- 
tect it  against  injurious  influences  and  to 
strengthen  its  powers  of  resistance.  This  applies 
especially  to  those  children  who,  tho  manifest- 
ing no  pronounced  indication  of  hereditary  taint, 
seem  particularly  endangered  in  consequence  of 
some  congenital  deficiency  in  their  powers  of  re- 
sistance. Because  the  sensory  perceptions  form 
the  basis  for  all  mental  development  it  is  to  these 
that  we  must  first  turn  our  attention ;  then  we  may 
proceed  to  a  consideration  of  the  care  of  the  body, 
the  development  of  the  intellect,  and  the  methods 
for  determining  the  amount  of  progress  which  has 
been  effected  through  instruction,  as  well  as  to  a 
consideration  of  the  formation  of  the  character  and 
the  will. 


THE   CHILDREN  229 

A.    DEVELOPMENT    OF    SENSORY    ACTIVITY 

We  have  now  reached  the  point  where  we  should 
speak  of  a  new  system  of  education  which  has  at- 
tracted a  great  deal  of  attention,  and  which  seems 
destined  to  produce  far-reaching  pedagogic 
reforms — the  IMontessori  Method.  To  be  precise 
we  really  should  not  designate  this  system  as 
*'new."  To  permit  the  child's  propensity  for 
activity  to  unfold  itself  freely  and,  by  means  of  a 
special  method  of  sense  training  and  sense  develop- 
ment, to  perfect  the  mental  capability  of  the  child 
to  its  utmost,  are  governing  purposes  which  long 
ago  had  been  exprest  by  Seguin,  who  himself  had 
adopted  them  in  part  from  Itard.  But  what  is 
new  is  the  application  to  normal  children  of  a 
method  originally  designed  for  the  training  of  the 
feeble-minded  and  its  amplification,  in  a  manner 
which  is  almost  a  manifestation  of  genius,  by  Dr. 
Maria  Montessori  in  Rome. 

The  fundamental  principle  of  the  Montessori 
Method  is  the  free,  individual,  self-development  of 
the  child.  The  method  starts  from  the  premise, 
psychologically  proved  to  be  correct,  that  the  child 
possesses  the  inherent  impulse  to  acquaint  itself  in 


230  CHILD    TRAINING 

every  way  with  the  objects  surrounding  it.  This 
natural  impulse,  through  which  the  child  is  en- 
couraged to  discover  things  for  itself,  must  not  be 
supprest.  The  traditional  training  of  home  and 
school  restrains  the  child  in  all  possible  ways;  it 
tells  the  child,  "You  must  not  do  this,  you  must 
not  do  that ;  now  do  this,  and  now  do  that. ' '  Mme. 
Montessori,  on  the  contrary,  allows  the  child  com- 
plete freedom  of  action  and  interferes  only  where 
the  occupational  impulse  of  the  child  threatens  to 
become  a  source  of  danger.  The  child  must  not 
be  obliged  to  interrupt  one  occupation  in  order  to 
take  up  a  new  one,  so  long  as  the  former  is  able 
to  hold  the  child's  interest  For  as  Dr.  Montessori 
very  correctly  argues,  this  interest  will  pall  of  itself 
when  the  child  has  thoroughly  investigated  the 
object  with  which  it  is  occupied,  and  therefore, 
a  premature  interruption  will  interfere  with  the 
natural  spirit  of  investigation. 

In  the  public  schools  this  principle  of  individu- 
alization has  received  consideration  only  through 
the  organization  of  auxiliary  classes  for  the  less 
capable  or  backward  children.  Froebel  went  a 
step  further  and,  making  use  of  their  play  impulse, 
divided  the  children  into  groups  which  were  per- 


THE    CHILDREN  231 

mitted  to  occupy  themselves  now  in  one  way  and 
again  in  another. 

Mme.  Montessori,  by  allowing  every  child  to 
select  its  own  object  of  occupation,  and  by  per- 
mitting it,  if  it  so  pleases,  to  busy  itself  therewith 
the  entire  day,  has  carried  the  principle  of  in- 
dividualization to  its  final  consummation.  The 
Montessori  Method  therefore  differs  from  the  pre- 
vailing pedagogy  in  two  directions — first  in  its 
principle  of  free  self-development,  according  to 
which  no  pressure  may  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  child  to  restrain  its  impulse  for  exploration; 
and  secondly,  in  its  adoption  of  the  principle  of 
the  most  far-reaching  individualization,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  the  school  is  composed  not  of 
classes  nor  groups  but  of  so  many  individual  chil- 
dren, each  of  whom  occupies  itself  in  accordance 
with  its  self-determination.  Naturally  we  should 
expect  such  a  school  to  require  a  very  large  staff  of 
teachers.  The  contrary,  however,  is  the  case.  In 
fact,  teachers,  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  do 
not  exist,  but  are  represented  by  observers.  The 
latter  do  not  instruct;  the  children  teach  them- 
selves. The  teacher  is  supplanted  by  the  didactic 
material,  through  the  use  of  which  the  children 


232  CHILD    TRAINING 

develop  their  mental  powers  in  accordance  with 
the  heuristic  method  of  searching  and  finding  for 
themselves.  The  Montessori  Method  impresses 
rather  strangely  any  one  who  has  not  occupied 
himself  intensively  with  the  psychology  and  psy- 
cho-pathology of  childhood.  Certainly  it  can  in  no 
way  be  grafted  upon  our  present  school  system. 
Its  general  introduction  in  our  existing  schools 
would  bring  about  a  complete  upheaval  of  our 
present  methods  of  instruction,  and,  of  course,  we 
can  not  expect  school  boards  to  adopt  measures  of 
such  sweeping  significance  without  absolute  assur- 
ance of  success.  A  guaranty  of  proof  of  success 
can  be  furnished  only  by  a  direct  competitive  test 
between  the  Montessori  schools  and  those  in  which 
our  children  are  being  instructed  to-day.  An 
experimental  pedagogic  competition  of  this  kind 
certainly  seems  warranted,  when  it  is  considered 
that  psychically  inferior  children  who  have  been 
instructed,  or,  rather,  have  taught  themselves 
according  to  the  Montessori  Method,  have  been 
able  to  compete  on  an  even  basis  with  normal  school 
children  of  their  own  age,  and  that  normal  chil- 
dren of  the  Montessori  school  have  been  able  to 
compete  with  older  children  from  other  schools. 


THE    CHILDREN  233 

My  own  observations  in  Rome  have  convinced  me 
that  the  IMontessori  Method  is  more  efficient  than 
the  pedagogy  which  has  been  transmitted  to  us 
})y  preceding  generations.  But  whether  the  Mon- 
tessori  IMethod  will  give  the  children  a  permanent 
advantage  in  later  life  can  not  at  present  be 
decided.  To  me  it  seems  the  IVIontessori  Method 
strains  the  children  less,  that  it  does  not  over- 
burden them,  and  that,  therefore,  it  preserves  them 
from  premature  exhaustion  of  nerve  force,  such 
as  results  not  only  from  excessive  requirements  and 
exactions  but  also  from  improper  methods  of  in- 
struction and  training.  At  any  rate  the  Mon- 
tessori  Method  has  proved  that  the  more  any 
pedagogy  is  capable  of  adapting  itself  to  the 
nature  of  the  child,  the  greater  will  be  its  efficiency. 
Its  superiority  is  due  entirely  to  the  fact  that 
]\Ime.  Montessori  bases  her  method  upon  the  pro- 
ducts of  physiological  and  pathological  psychology 
of  childhood,  which  she,  first  as  a  physician  and 
then  as  a  pedagog,  never  wearied  of  carefully 
studying.  The  principles  according  to  which  the 
child  mind  develops  under  normal  and  patho- 
logical conditions,  the  manner  in  which  the  mental 
capabilities  are  determined,  how  progress  is  esti- 


234  CHILD    TRAINING 

mated,  and  how  health  may  be  distinguished  from 
disease,  will  be  set  forth  in  the  second  part  of 
til  is  book. 

To  my  mind  a  knowledge  of  the  psychology  of 
childhood  is  of  fundamental  importance  for  all 
pedagogic  efforts,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  I 
have  placed  this  chapter  at  the  head  of  my  peda- 
gogic disquisitions.  I  can  not  entirely  agree  with 
those  who  say  the  study  of  child  psychology 
diminishes  the  sympathy  of  the  average  pedagog 
for  the  children  entrusted  to  his  care.  It  might 
with  equal  justice  be  maintained  that  the  average 
physician  loses  compassion  for  his  patients  because 
the  object  of  his  studies  is  the  human  being.  Cer- 
tainly this  is  so  only  in  exceptional  instances ;  or, 
what  is  probably  more  correct,  this  compassion 
never  existed.  In  my  opinion  the  sympathies  and 
vocational  interest  of  the  teacher  will  not  only  not 
suffer  in  consequence  of  the  exact  observation  and 
experimental  study  of  child  psychology,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  will  be  fortified  and  augmented.  For 
here  also  Mme.  de  Stael's  words.  Tout  com- 
prendre,  c'est  tout  pardonner  may  well  be  ap- 
plied. He  who  does  not  understand  the  mind  of 
the   child   easily   becomes   over-exacting   when    he 


THE    CHILDREN  235 

meets  witli  any  opposition,  because  he  ascribes  that 
opposition  to  obstinacy  and  malevolence,  whereas 
a  knowledge  of  psychology  would  teach  that  it  is 
often  dependent  upon  natural  causes  and,  there- 
fore, calls  for  sympathy  rather  than  severity. 

In  this  connection  I  would  state  that  the  demand 
for  reform  in  our  present  method  of  education 
seems  to  permeate  the  entire  atmosphere.  I  have 
before  me  the  book  of  Edmond  Holmes,  "What  is 
and  What  Might  Be."  Without  knowing  Dr. 
Montessori  and  without  having  heard  of  her  work. 
Holmes  in  London  has  arrived  at  conclusions  very 
similar  to  those  of  the  foimder  of  the  "Casa  dei 
Bambini"  in  Rome.  He,  too,  is  an  advocate  of 
free  self -development  of  the  child,  and  of  the  widest 
individualization.  Holmes  differentiates  six  natu- 
ral impulses  or  instincts,  as  follows: 

1.  The  child's  instinctive  desire  to  enter  into 
communion  with  the  persons  about  it,  to  talk  to 
them,  to  tell  them  what  it  has  done,  seen,  felt, 
thought,  and  to  hear  what  they  have  to  tell  it. 
This  he  calls  the  communicative  instinct. 

2.  The  tendency  of  the  child  to  play  the  role 
of  hero,  fairy  prince,  adventurer,  giant,  or  dwarf. 
This  he  calls  the  dramatic  instinct. 


236  CHILD    TRAINING 

3.  The  desire  of  the  child  to  give  visible  expres- 
sion, through  drawing,  painting  or  plastic  imita- 
tion, to  the  pictures  which  fill  its  imagination — 
the  artistic  instinct. 

4.  The  impulse  of  the  child  to  reproduce  melo- 
dies by  singing  and  to  execute  their  corresponding 
rhythmical  movements  by  dancing — the  musical 
instinct. 

5.  The  desire  of  the  child  to  know  the  why  and 
wherefore,  the  reason  and  purpose,  of  thingij — the 
inquisitive  instinct. 

6.  The  impulse  of  the  child  to  pull  apart  things 
in  order  to  reconstruct  them — the  constructive 
instinct. 

Of  these,  Holmes  classes  the  first  two  as  sym- 
pathetic instincts,  the  next  two  as  esthetic  in- 
stincts, and  the  last  two  as  scientific  instincts. 
Upon  the  basis  of  these  natural  impulses  is  built 
the  mental  development  of  the  child. 

In  "What  Is"  Holmes,  by  examples  taken  from 
actual  life,  shows  the  consequences  that  will  ensue 
when  the  natural  impulses  of  the  child  are  re- 
pressed or  abused.  In  "What  Might  Be"  he  intro- 
duces to  us  Egeria,  a  teacher  in  a  school  in  Utopia, 
all  of  whose  efforts  are  directed  toward  allowing 


THE    CHILDREN  237 

the  natural  impulses  of  the  child  to  develop  them- 
selves in  an  unhampered  way.  For  the  children 
of  Egeria's  school,  there  exists  neither  punishment 
nor  reward.  Notwithstanding  that  they  are  sub- 
jected to  no  constraint  of  any  kind,  that  no  threat 
of  punishment  frightens  nor  intimidates  them,  no 
promise  of  reward  allures  them  nor  arouses  their 
ardor,  the  children  thrive  and  preserve  most  model 
discipline.  Mental  cripples  who  by  rote  have 
acquired  a  mass  of  undigested  knowledge  and  who, 
through  the  principle  of  punishment  and  reward, 
have  been  trained  to  a  "mechanical  obedience" — 
these  are  the  fruits  of  the  school  "as  it  is." 
Mentally  alert  children,  full  of  live  interest  in  the 
things  which  surround  them,  not  crammed  with 
mere  memory  knowledge,  but  equipped  with  that 
independence  of  thought  and  judgment  which  at 
the  given  moment  is  able  quietly  to  reveal  itself, 
and  which  through  free  obedience  makes  the  call 
of  unlovely  egotism  subordinate  to  the  interests  of 
the  many — these  are  the  fruits  of  the  school  "as 
it  might  be."  Mr.  Holmes  has  told  me  his  Egeria 
and  his  Utopia  were  not,  as  I  assumed  them  to  be, 
the  products  of  his  imagination.  Both  teacher  and 
school  were  the  actualities  of  an  English  village, 


238  CHILD    TRAINING 

and  in  his  book  he  informs  us  that  the  type  of 
education  wliich  flourished  in  the  atmosphere  of 
Utopia  developed  young  men  and  women  of 
"activity,  versatility,  imaginative  sympathy,  a 
wide  and  free  outlook,  self-forgetfulness,  charm  of 
manner  and  joy  of  heart."  Whoever  has  seen  a 
class  of  Montessori  infants  would  regard  those 
words  as  a  forecast  of  what  lay  in  store  for  them. 

Only  the  necessity  for  reform  in  our  present 
method  of  instruction  and  education,  the  dissatis- 
faction with  the  ruling  organization  of  our  schools, 
can  explain  the  remarkable  concordance  of  two 
persons  who  have  independently  arrived  at  the 
same  results.  I  have  considered  it  best  to  evolve 
the  basic  thoughts  which  govern  the  Montessori 
method  in  their  mutual  relationship,  in  order  to 
facilitate  a  comprehension  of  the  individual  points 
as  they  will  be  considered  in  other  chapters. 

The  point  of  greatest  importance  in  the  Mon- 
tessori method  is  the  development  of  sensory 
activity.  For  this  an  extensive  teaching  material 
is  necessary,  consisting  of  wooden  blocks  of  various 
form  and  size,  hard  and  soft  objects  with  rough 
and  smooth  surface,  liquids  of  various  degrees  of 
temperature,  colored  objects  and  sounding    ones. 


THE   CHILDREN  239 

convexly  cut  letters  and  numbers,  tests  for  taste 
and  smell,  etc.  To  these  should  be  added  a  variety 
of  natural  objects,  such  as  grains  of  cereals, 
flowers,  minerals,  etc.  The  fundamental  idea  of 
this  teaching  material  is  derived  from  Seguin,  who 
made  use  of  it  only  for  the  instruction  of  the 
feeble-minded.  Following  his  example,  other 
remedial  pedagogs  have  also  made  use  of  it  with 
success,  but  the  credit  for  having  recognized  the 
merits  of  this  material  in  the  instruction  of  normal 
children  is  due  exclusively  to  Mme.  Montessori. 

It  is  most  interesting  to  observe  the  Montessori 
children  while  they  are  working  and  giving  free 
expression  to  their  instinct  for  investigation. 
Blindfolded,  they  endeavor,  through  touch  alone, 
for  instance,  to  determine  of  what  material  a 
particular  object  is  made.  From  its  form,  size, 
consistency,  regularity  or  irregularity  of  surface 
they  form  an  idea,  without  seeing  the  object,  as 
to  whether  it  is  an  apple,  a  piece  of  bread,  sand- 
paper, wool  or  something  else.  When  the  eyes 
are  uncovered  and  they  are  able  to  corroborate 
their  diagnosis,  their  pleasure  is  marked;  if,  on 
the  contrary,  they  have  mistaken  the  nature  of 
the  object  before   them,   the  investigation  of    its 


240  CHILD    TRAINING 

differentiating    qualities    begins    anew.     With    in- 
exhaustible  ardor,    the   children   study   their   in- 
structional material,  take  the  objects  apart,  dissect 
them,  put  them  together  again,  select  certain  colors 
and  shades,  concentrate  their  attention  upon  certain 
tones,  instruct  themselves  concerning  the  origin  and 
purpose    of    the    various    objects,    systematically 
arrange  letters  and  numbers,  practise  the  recog- 
nition of  different  grades  of  temperature,  and  of 
differences  in  olfactory  and  gustatory  qualities.  In 
this  manner,  by  means  of  sensory  perceptions,  they 
extend  the  circle  of  their  ideas,  which,  as  memory- 
pictures,  become  all  the   more  fixt  the  more  the 
children  have  been  left  undisturbed  in  the  exercise 
of  their  investigational  trend.     Since  normal  chil- 
dren, however,  manifest  various  grades  of  talent, 
assiduity  and  energy,  it  can  not  be  expected  that 
the  Montessori  Method,  even  when  practised  under 
expert  supervision,  will  produce  equally  favorable 
results  in  all  children.     But  it  becomes  clear  that 
even  the  weaker  children  are  incited  to  discover 
for  themselves,   when   we  remember  that   in   the 
Montessori  Method  the  starting  point  is  the  more 
or  less  innate  desire  of  every  healthy  child    for 
activity     and     investigation,    that     the     teaching 


Courtesy  of  Dr 


Maria   Montessori. 

MoNTESSORi  Children  at  Work 


THE   CHILDREN  241 

material  in  itself  serves  to  show  the  child  whether 
its  observations  have  been  correctly  made,  and  that 
the  findings  of  each  child  control  to  some  extent 
those  of  its  comrades.  Successful  results  may  be 
delayed  in  weaker  children  but  ultimately  will 
be  attained  as  certainly  as  in  the  more  talented 
children. 

What,  in  my  opinion,  emphasized  the  superiority 
of  the  Montessori  Method  is  the  simultaneous 
development  of  the  attention  and  of  the  sensory 
activities.  By  means  of  this  method  the  sense  that 
is  most  susceptible  to  stimulation  can  be  easily 
determined.  The  child's  free  and  independent 
selection  of  those  objects  of  the  didactic  material 
which  most  appeal  to  it  indicates  the  direction  in 
which  its  capabilities  or  endowments  must  lie. 

When  the  sense  which  is  best  developed  has  been 
determined  and  to  a  certain  extent  exercised,  it 
may  be  persistently  excited  by  more  and  more 
complicated  stimuli,  which  in  time  will  simul- 
taneously incite  activity  in  other  sensory  spheres. 
The  attention,  which  tends  especially  in  one  direc- 
tion or  another,  is  thereby  evoked  for  other  sensory 
fields  as  well.  This  is  shown  by  the  manner  in 
which  the  sense  of  touch  may  be  exercised  without 


242  CHILD    TRAINING 

the  aid  of  vision.  In  a  similar  way  the  sense  of 
smell  and  the  sense  of  taste  may  be  trained  by 
extending  the  influence  of  those  of  sight  and 
hearing. 

Let  me  say  again  the  method  of  developing  the 
sensory  activities  and  the  attention  by  the  aid  of 
objective  demonstration  is  by  no  means  new.  The 
only  things  new  about  it  are  its  application  to 
normal  children  and  the  heuristic  principle  of  self- 
discovery.  To  the  latter,  above  all  else,  must  be 
attributed  the  fact  that  the  children,  without  a 
teacher's  guidance,  are  actually  able  mentally  to 
assimilate  the  sensory  impressions  they  receive. 
The  various  objects  from  which  the  child  may 
freely  select  what  it  will,  represent  for  it  just  so 
many  motives  for  its  actions.  While  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  the  impressions  derived  through  exer- 
cise of  the  senses  remain  isolated  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  child,  the  "method  of  choice"  which 
Dr.  Montessori  employs,  but  which  has  also  been 
advocated  by  Heller,  Weygant,  Strohraeyer,  and 
others,  encourages  the  child  from  the  very  be- 
ginning to  compare  and  to  differentiate  the 
objects  which  it  selects.  In  those  children  who 
are  less  liberally  endowed  or  who  have  slight  sen- 


THE    CHILDREN  243 

sory  defects  (visual  disturbances,  auditory  de- 
ficiencies, etc.),  the  most  dissimilar  impressions  at 
first  flow  together  into  an  indeterminate  whole. 
Only  through  the  opportunity  which  is  given  them 
to  examine  minutely  the  objects  from  which  a 
choice  is  to  be  made  according  to  form,  consistency, 
color,  odor,  etc.,  do  they  become  enabled  to  assimi- 
late sensory  perceptions,  which  thereafter  not  only 
remain  fixt  in  the  memory,  but  also  become  apper- 
ceptively  combined. 

B.    BODILY    DEVELOPMENT 

On  account  of  the  extreme  importance  of  the 
physical  care  of  the  child  in  the  proper  develop- 
ment of  its  mental  function,  it  would  be  a  mistake 
not  to  give  due  consideration  to  such  physical  care 
in  a  work,  dealing  as  this  does,  with  the  education 
of  all  grades  of  normal  and  abnormal  children  from 
the  comprehensive  view-point  of  physiological  and 
pathological  psychology. 

In  considering  the  child's  physical  care  we  find 
it  necessary  once  more  to  emphasize  the  teaching 
that  the  pupil  should  be  restrained  as  little  as 
possible  and  should  be  allowed  to  develop  freely 
in   accordance   with   his  innate   impulses   and  in- 


244  CHILD    TRAINING 

stincts.  Children,  for  example,  have  no  desire  for 
stimulants,  such  as  alcohol,  tobacco,  etc. — as  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  when  such  stimulants  are 
used  for  the  first  time  the  children  react  to  them 
in  a  manner  which  clearly  demonstrates  their 
nature  has  been  violated.  Only  gradually  and  in 
consequence  of  habit  is  this  antipathy  counteracted. 
Hence  we  recognize  the  principle,  which  hardly 
requires  elucidation,  that  stimulants  must  be 
banished  from  the  dietary  of  all  children  and  that 
inattention  to  this  prophylactic  measure  is  fol- 
lowed, sooner  or  later,  by  calamitous  results. 

No  definite  rules  can  be  established  concerning 
food  and  dietetics  in  general.  What  benefits  one 
child  may  be  harmful  to  another.  The  nutrition 
of  the  child  differs  from  that  of  the  adult.  In  the 
adult  it  is  sufficient  if  the  nitrogenous  balance  of 
the  organism  be  maintained,  but  in  order  that 
the  child's  growth  and  development  may  proceed 
in  a  normal  manner,  and  that  growth  may  be 
facilitated,  it  is  essential  that  the  intake  exceed 
the  outgo.  A  child  that  throws  off  as  many  meta- 
bolic products  as  it  takes  in  can  not  flourish ;  and 
when  the  outgo  exceeds  the  intake,  the  child  will 
be  under-nourished  and  waste  away.     Such  deficit 


THE    CHILDREN  245 

may  be  the  result  of  certain  disorders  of  metab- 
olism, but  this  is  not  the  proper  place  to  give 
attention  to  them.  Pedagogy  is  concerned  only 
with  that  form  of  under-nourishment  which  appears 
in  healthy  children  as  a  result  of  their  taking  in- 
sufficient or  improper  food.  Every  kind  of 
nourishment  that  does  not  agree  with  the  child 
must  be  called  improper.  Whether  the  child  should 
be  forced  to  eat  food  for  which  it  has  an  aversion 
is  quite  another  matter.  Certainly,  since  pala- 
tability  stimulates  the  digestive  secretions  and 
thereby  favors  assimilation,  while  aversion  impairs 
the  digestion  of  food,  children  should  not  be  coerced 
to  eat  food  against  which  their  nature  rebels.  On 
the  other  hand,  many  parents  are  at  fault  when 
they  allow  the  child's  caprice  to  control  its  diet. 
Generally  speaking,  a  child  must  learn  to  eat  all 
wholesome  foods  and  must  not  be  permitted  to 
foster  little  food  antipathies  which,  if  not  sup- 
prest,  may  easily  develop  into  hypochondriacal 
obsessions. 

Nourishment  is  inadequate  when  the  food  con- 
tains too  little  nitrogenous  material  (albumin), 
too  little  fat,  or  too  few  carbohydrates,  or  when  any 
of  these  three  main  materials  is  entirely  lacking. 


246  CHILD    TRAINING 

On  the  average  the  adult  requires  about  twenty- 
grams  of  fat,  one  hundred  and  forty  grams 
of  albumin  and  three  hundred  and  lifty  grams 
of  carbohydrates,  daily ;  the  child  a  smaller  amount, 
in  proportion  to  its  age  and  weight.  Knowing  as 
we  do  the  precise  chemical  composition  of  the 
various  foods  and  their  percentage  of  albumin,  fat 
and  carbohydrates,  it  is  not  difficult  to  determine 
whether  a  certain  diet  contains  the  proper  pro- 
portion of  these  basic  nutritional  substances,  A 
point  not  to  be  forgotten  is  that  the  nitrogenous 
material  of  vegetables  (plant  albumin)  makes 
greater  demands  upon  the  digestive  apparatus 
than  does  the  albumin  contained  in  meat,  inasmuch 
as  a  small  meal  of  meat  is  sufficient  to  furnish  the 
same  amount  of  nitrogen  as  a  larger  one  of 
vegetables. 

Chronic  malnutrition  hinders  the  development  of 
both  mind  and  body.  A  far-reaching  influence  is 
exerted  therefore,  by  those  benevolent  societies 
whose  purpose  is  not  only  to  aid  children  of  the 
poor  in  obtaining  ample  and  proper  nourishment 
but  also  to  instruct  the  parents  how  they  may, 
without  increased  expenditure  and  by  means  of 
more  efficient  use  of  various  foods,  prepare  palatable 


THE    CHILDREN  247 

meals  adapted  to  all  nutritional  requirements.  On 
the  other  hand,  overfeeding  is  equally  pernicious. 
Many  parents  soem  to  desire  only  that  their  chil- 
dren should  grow  fat,  forgetting  that  obesity  is  by 
no  means  the  same  as  health  and  strength,  but  on 
the  contrary  is  often  the  explanation  for  indolence 
and  self-indulgence  in  children.  Overfed  children, 
who  do  not  know  what  hunger  is,  become  more 
and  more  finical,  and  develop  a  repugnance  for 
all  plain  and  simple  foods.  This  aversion  is  essen- 
tially the  expression  of  caprice  and  a  disordered 
stomach.  The  principle  that  children  should  be 
given  all  possible  freedom  in  following  their 
material  impulses  and  instincts  of  course  applies 
to  healthy  children  only.  The  beneficent  estab- 
lishment of  school  physicians  has  made  it  possible 
constantly  to  observe  the  bodily  health  of  the 
children  and  thus  to  recognize  very  early  those 
defects  which,  when  allowed  to  persist,  constitute 
an  ever-growing  menace  to  the  child's  intellectual 
welfare.  Of  course,  I  am  referring  here  to  those 
states  of  chronic  malnutrition,  adenoid  vegetations, 
thyroid  hypertrophy,  defective  hearing,  nervous 
irritability,  etc.,  which  have  already  been  men- 
tioned.    The  change  which  may  be  effected  in  the 


248  CHILD    TRAINING 

psychic  behavior  of  children  having  those  defects, 
by  judicious  prophylactic  measures  often  seems 
almost  miraculous.  Every  neurologist  will  sub- 
scribe to  the  statement  that  not  the  least  of  the 
measures  which  are  of  prophylactic  value  in  the 
training  of  those  children  who  attract  attention  on 
account  of  any  peculiarity  is  their  removal  from 
parental  control.  If  we  consider  the  extraordinary 
significance  of  hereditary  influence,  and  the  fact 
that  those  unfavorable  factors  which  during  em- 
bryonal development  have  been  the  cause  of  injury 
to  the  health  of  the  child  frequently  remain  active 
during  the  entire  period  of  its  training,  we  often 
can  not  but  consider  the  retention  of  "atypical" 
children  in  their  own  homes  a  serious  menace  to 
their  future  health.  No  more  need  be  said  to 
prove  that  parents  suffering  from  nervousness,  and 
more  especially  those  who  are  alcoholic,  are  not 
the  proper  guardians  for  children,  who  are  normal, 
and  certainly  not  for  those  who  are  in  any  way 
abnormal  and  who,  through  imitation,  are  likely 
to  acquire  morbid  peculiarities  which  will  seriously 
complicate  their  original  defective  state.  For  the 
parents  as  well  as  for  the  children,  life  in  such 
unhealthy  environment  consists  of  an  uninterrupted 


THE   CHILDREN  249 

round  of  excitement.  From  this  condition  are 
often  developed  those  peculiar  nervous  states 
which,  so  long  as  the  children  are  allowed  to 
occupy  the  parental  home,  are  the  bane  of  all 
medical  and  pedagogical  efforts.  Frequently  all 
that  is  required  to  effect  a  decided  improvement  is 
removal  of  the  children  from  these  surroundings, 
and  the  earlier  this  is  brought  about  the  greater 
the  prospect  of  permanent  success.  But  it  is 
wrong  even  for  healthy  parents  to  assume  the 
training  of  their  atypical  children,  since,  as  a  rule, 
they  lack  the  requisite  understanding  of  their 
peculiarities,  often  cater  to  their  most  unreasonable 
desires,  and  consequently,  tho  with  the  best 
intentions,  do  many  things  which  are  prejudicial 
to  the  children's  health. 

That  children  should  spend  much  of  their  time 
in  the  open  air  is  generally  understood.  While 
this  presents  no  difficulty  to  families  living  in  the 
country,  outdoor  life  is  almost  impossible  for  the 
inhabitants  of  the  overpopulated  quarters  of  a 
large  city.  The  reconstructive  value  of  walking 
and  playing  in  dusty  and  dirty  city  streets  is 
certainly  problematical.  For  that  reason  we  should 
appreciate  all  the  more  those  public  and  private 


250  CHILD    TRAINING 

charitable  eii'orts  which  aim  to  give  the  children 
of  the  city's  poor  adequate  seasonable  outings  in 
the  country  and  at  the  seashore.  Of  equal  im- 
portance for  the  child's  welfare  is  cleanliness 
through  frequent  bathing.  Baths,  moreover,  serve 
as  a  means  of  strengthening  the  general  consti- 
tution, and  here  we  must  recognize  the  value  of 
the  use  of  cold  water.  Of  course,  its  indiscriminate 
use,  more  particularly  in  the  manner  advocated  by 
the  various  nature-cure  faddists,  has  led  to  many 
excesses,  and  continuous  so-called  "hardening" 
procedures  are  not  infrequently  the  cause  of 
decided  conditions  of  nervousness.  They  are 
especially  harmful  to  children,  particularly  the 
weak  and  anemic.  On  the  other  hand,  when  carried 
out  systematically  and  with  proper  regard  for 
individual  conditions  and  singularities,  "harden- 
ing" procedures,  through  habituating  the  organism 
to  sudden  changes  of  temperature,  constitute  one 
of  the  most  important  measures  of  prophylactic 
training  that  we  possess. 

In  connection  with  this,  also,  we  find  nature  an 
ideal  preceptor.  It  is  the  custom  of  the  gypsies  to 
bathe  their  new-born  babes,  even  in  winter,  in  the 
nearest  stream  or  lake ;  the  Patagonians  allow  their 


THE    CHILDREN  251 

children  to  grow  up  with  scarcely  any  protection 
against  the  great  cold  of  the  climate  in  which  they 
live.  In  both  these  instances  wc  are  dealing  with 
people  living  more  or  less  in  a  state  of  nature — 
not  with  emolliated  people  who  desire  to  retrieve 
the  vigor  they  have  lost.  Only  with  loss  of  health 
or  life  could  we  enervated  products  of  modern 
civilization  follow  their  example.  The  deleterious 
effects  of  intense  climatic  changes  can  be  under- 
stood only  by  those  who  possess  inherently  resist- 
ant bodies  or  who  have  been  constantly  exposed  to 
such  conditions  from  birth.  Therefore  all  harden- 
ing procedures  should  be  carried  out  with  caution, 
and  a  warning  should  be  sounded  against  that 
fanaticism  which  by  resorting  to  the  use  of  cold 
water  alone  would  attempt  to  accomplish  hurriedly 
what  really  can  be  brought  about  solely  by  means 
of  gradual  adaptation  and  with  the  aid  of  certain 
other  factors. 

Gymnastic  exercises,  when  properly  planned  and 
systematically  used,  are  of  extraordinary  benefit  in 
the  development  of  mind  and  body,  but  they  may 
be  most  detrimental  if  employed  in  excess  and 
Mdthout  discrimination.  In  accordance  with  the 
principle   Mens  sana  in   corpore   sano,   both   the 


252  CHILD    TRAINING 

miud  and  the  body  should  be  trained  simul- 
taneously. At  first  all  those  movements  of  muscles 
and  joints  which  are  executed  by  the  child  with 
difficulty  should  be  practised  separately.  In  many 
instances  the  child's  attention  and  will  are  so 
undeveloped  that  the  desired  movements  can  not 
be  actively  produced.  In  such  cases  passive  move- 
ments must  be  depended  upon  to  prepare  the  path 
for  the  active  ones.  Passive  movements  become 
transformed  into  active  ones  as  soon  as  the  child 
endeavors  to  assist  in  producing  them  by  its  own 
muscular  effort.  Ultimately  the  child  develops  the 
ability  to  reproduce  actively  the  passive  movements 
to  which  it  has  become  accustomed,  and,  with  the 
requisite  help,  to  carry  out  other  active  move- 
ments which  it  had  not  previously  been  prepared 
for  by  passive  exercise. 

The  physiological  importance  of  these  movement 
exercises  is  that  through  them  are  called  into  being 
those  concepts  which  pertain  to  the  position  and 
movement  of  one's  own  limbs.  It  is  this  group  of 
concepts  which  is  of  the  highest  significance  in  the 
development  of  consciousness.  All  other  sensory 
impressions  and  their  dependent  concepts  are  un- 
stable,   while    this    group    of    impressions    alone 


THE    CHILDREN  253 

possesses  the  character  of  constancy.  The  sensory 
impressions  which  the  child  receives  from  its  own 
body  remain  the  same  no  matter  how  much  the 
surroundings  of  the  child  change.  The  child  in 
time  becomes  conscious  of  the  execution  of  the 
movements  produced  in  its  joints  and  muscles,  and 
conceives  the  idea  of  being  able  to  produce  those 
movements  voluntarily.  In  this  manner  the  per- 
manent group  of  concepts  which  relate  to  one's 
own  body  is  perceived  to  be  dependent  upon  one's 
own  will,  and  the  consciousness  of  self  arises. 

In  still  another  direction  are  gymnastic  exer- 
cises of  significance  for  the  mental  development  of 
the  child.  The  time  that  is  to  intervene  between 
one  exercise  and  the  following  one  must  not  be  left 
to  chance,  but  must  be  regulated  from  the  begin- 
ning by  a  certain  tempo  or  rhythm.  Let  us  assume 
that  two  simple  movements,  as,  for  example,  flexion 
and  extension  of  the  arm,  are  repeated  at  precisely 
the  same  intervals  of  time.  Undoubtedly  through 
the  regular  alternation  of  these  movements  a  close 
relationship  becomes  established  between  them,  so 
that  after  the  execution  of  one  the  occurrence  of 
the  other  will  be  anticipated.  This  state  of  expec- 
tation becomes  one  of  realization  as  soon  as  the 


254  CHILD    TRAINING 

correlative  second  movemeut  is  actually  carried  out. 

lu  this  instance,  according  to  Wundt,  we  are 
dealing  with  peculiar  states  of  consciousness  which 
are  closely  allied  to  the  process  of  apperception. 
In  the  instance  cited,  the  child's  attention  is 
aroused  with  recurring  reciprocity,  the  execution 
of  one  movement  uniting  with  the  memory-picture 
of  the  other,  so  that  the  concept  of  the  one  and  the 
concept  of  the  other  movement  alternately  enter 
the  fixation  point  of  consciousness.  Hence  there 
is  reason  for  maintaining  that  the  development  of 
the  attention  will  be  encouraged  to  a  high  degree 
through  such  coordinatory  exercises.  Altho  De 
Moor  and  others  have  laid  stress  upon  the  value  of 
accompanying  rhythmical  exercises  by  music,  it 
would  appear,  from  the  experience  of  Dr.  Mon- 
tessori,  that  in  arrhythmical  gymnastics  no  musical 
instruments  should  be  used,  but  the  children  should 
be  taught  to  accompany  the  exercises  by  song. 

Observation  of  the  normal  child  teaches  us  that 
walking  is  learned  gradually.  Before  being  able  to 
walk,  the  child  must  have  gathered  a  certain  sum 
of  experiences,  at  first  through  raising  itself  alone 
and  later  through  moving  its  body  forward  in  a 
creeping  position.     These  experiences  are  utilized 


THE    CHILDREN  255 

practically  by  the  child  as  soon  as  it  has  acquired 
the  power  to  execute  the  coordinated  movements 
of  flexion  and  extension  of  the  lower  extremities 
that  correspond  to  taking  the  first  steps.  Above 
all,  however,  the  child  must  first  have  acquired  the 
sense  of  oi'ientation  in  space,  for  otherwise  it  would 
not  be  able  to  direct  its  movements  toward  a 
specific  object.  In  the  normal  child,  therefore, 
learning  to  walk  must  not  be  regarded  merely  as 
an  automatic  act  governed  by  commensurate 
development  of  the  motor  centei's  and  the  peri- 
pheral motor  nerves ;  indeed,  we  must  regard  it  as 
a  conscious  process,  one  that  would  be  impossible 
were  direct  experience  lacking.  In  order  to  en- 
courage independent  attempts  at  walking,  special 
apparatus  have  been  devised,  that  enable  the  child 
to  raaifitain  the  upright  posture  and  in  a  measure 
impel  it  to  keep  moving  forward.  Such  walking 
cribs  are,  however,  of  doubtful  advantage.  The 
chief  objections  to  their  use  is  that  they  make  it 
unnecessary  for  the  child  to  attempt  to  compensate 
every  disturbance  of  equilibrium  by  proper  mus- 
cular exertion,  altho  such  attempts  are  of  the 
greatest  importance  for  the  bodily  and  mental 
development  of  the  child.     That  is  why  children 


256  CHILD    TRAINING 

who  have  learned  to  walk  perfectly  in  the  walking 
crib  often  show  marked  unsteadiness  of  gait  when 
required  to  walk  unaided.     Here  is  a  better  way 
of  teaching  the  child  to  walk  than  by  the  use  of 
an  apparatus :  Let  one  person  hold  it  iu  an  upright 
posture  by  its  hands  to  give  it  confidence,  and  then 
gradually  draw  it  forward  while  another  person 
grasps  the  feet  of  the  child  and  moves  them  to 
carry    out    the    passive    coordinatory    movements 
which  correspond  to  the  walking  steps.     This  nat- 
ural method  has  a  great  advantage  over  all  ap- 
paratus in  that  it  permits  the  upright  posture  to 
be  supported  and  the  step  movement  to  be  modified 
in  accordance  with  the  greater  independence  and 
self-reliance  which  the  child  must  gradually  ac- 
quire.      By  systematic  practise  the  child  becomes 
accustomed   to  maintaining  the    upright    posture 
without   extraneous  aid  and   to  carrying   out  co- 
ordinated stepping  movements.     These  movements, 
moreover,   should   be  exercised  by  means  of  cor- 
responding passive  movements,  carried  out  while 
the  child  is  lying  down,  until  they  have  been  trans- 
formed into  automatic  acts. 

For  larger  children  the  value  of  athletic  sports 
of  various  kinds  should  not    be    underestimated. 


THE    CHILDREN  257 

Baseball,  swimming,  rowing,  bicycle  riding,  long 
tramps,  etc.,  give  the  children  opportunity  to  test 
and  to  develop  their  strength  in  free  competition 
with  others.  An  emphatic  protest  must  be  entered, 
however,  against  every  excess  into  which  ambitious 
natures  may  be  led.  In  all  sport  and  gymnastic 
exercises  careful  individual  attention  must  be 
given  to  the  greater  or  less  resisting  powers  of  the 
heart. 

Proper  gymnastic  instruction  is  of  great  import- 
ance in  physical  training.  A  large  number  of 
children  acting  under  the  same  orders  and  gov- 
erned by  the  same  rules  become  imbued  with  a 
feeling  of  homogeneity  which  can  not  be  instilled 
so  thoroughly  in  any  other  way.  Various  writers 
have  called  attention  to  the  special  value  of 
Swedish  exercises  in  the  physical  and  mental 
development  of  defective  children.  It  is  a  fact 
that  such  opposed  movements  are  well  adapted  to 
overcoming  the  awkwardness  that  is  present  in 
very  many  feeble-minded  children.  But  the  em- 
ployment of  Swedish  movements  alone  (to  the 
exclusion  of  the  gymnastics  with  apparatus)  is  by 
no  means  desirable.  Dubois  Reymond  was  the 
earliest  and  most  ardent  supporter  of  the  German 


258  CHILD    TRAINING 

"Turnen"  as  opposed  to  Swedish  gymnastics,  and 
he  clearly  showed  that  the  former  makes  far 
greater  demands  upon  the  self-activity  of  the  child  ; 
certainly  the  Swedish  movements  do  not  succeed  in 
bringing  into  play  that  activity  of  the  child's 
will  which  is  so  desirable,  while  gymnastics  with 
apparatus  not  only  exercise  the  muscles  of  the  body 
but  help  to  train  the  coordinatory  power  more 
thoroughly  than  any  system  of  mechanical  exer- 
cises. In  all  gymnastics,  attention  must  be  paid 
to  the  uniform  drilling  of  all  groups  of  muscles, 
so  that  the  pupil  may  eventually  gain  complete 
control  over  his  entire  motor  apparatus.  Every 
movement  should  be  executed  according  to  a  certain 
time  measure,  best  indicated  by  counting  aloud. 
True,  this  is  possible  only  when  the  teacher  limits 
his  instruction  to  certain  definite  movements. 

Fatigue  measurements,  made  by  different  ob- 
servers in  different  ways,  have  demonstrated  that 
the  fatigue  which  ensues  upon  gymnastic  exercises 
is  relatively  pronounced.  It  has  long  been  known 
that  the  degree  of  fatigue  which  pupils  show  after 
such  exercise  is  greater  than  that  which  follows 
any  kind  of  mental  work.  This  fact  has  a  double 
significance.       First,  it  proves  erroneous  the  view, 


THE    CHILDREN  259 

so  widely  accepted,  that  mental  fatigue  may  be 
relieved  by  physical  exercise,  and  that  physical 
fatigue  may  be  overcome  by  mental  activity. 
Gymnastic  work,  after  mental  fatigue  due  to  study, 
represents  relaxation  just  as  little  as  study  after 
gymnastic  exertion  signifies  recuperation.  When 
children — and  herein  they  do  not  differ  from  adults 
— are  tired,  they  require  rest  and  not  a  change  of 
activity.  Secondly,  the  fact  mentioned  enables  us 
to  recognize  the  necessity  for  individualization  even 
in  physical  exercise.  Under  certain  conditions  we 
must  go  so  far  as  to  exclude  weak  or  very  nervous 
children  entirely  from  gymnasium  work,  or  to  give 
them  the  very  lightest  exercise.  "Which  of  the 
children,  for  hygienic  reasons,  are  to  receive  only 
a  restricted  physical  training  or  none  at  all,  is  a 
question  that  must,  of  course,  be  left  entirely  to 
the  decision  of  the  physician.  In  coming  to  a  con- 
clusion, however,  the  latter  should  not  lose  sight 
of  the  fact  that  gymnasium  work  is  of  particular 
effectiveness  in  augmenting  the  physical  skill,  the 
courage  and  the  self-confidence  of  the  child,  and 
therefore  only  in  exceptional  instances  should  the 
use  of  this  important  means  of  training  be  re- 
nounced.      For    reasons    already    discust,    pupils 


280  CHILD    TRAINING 

should  not  be  permitted  to  go  into  the  gymnasium 
for  work  until  rested,  nor  should  they  be  allowed 
to  undertake  any  mental  or  other  physical  work 
immediately  after  such  exercises.  Our  pi-ophy- 
laetic  task  of  physical  training  would  be  badly 
fulfilled  were  we  to  allow  it  to  produce  disturbances 
of  the  general  health  through  failing  to  take  into 
consideration  the  state  of  fatigue. 

It  is  also  of  great  importance  that  we  should 
understand  correctly  the  states  of  fear  not  in- 
frequently revealed  when  children  are  engaged  in 
exercises  upon  gymnastic  apparatus.  These  states 
of  fear  or  fright  are  often  found  to  be  due  entirely 
to  lack  of  self-confidence,  and  in  that  case  it  is  the 
teacher's  task  to  convince  the  pupil  that  all  that 
is  required  in  order  to  enable  him  to  carry  out  the 
work  allotted  to  him  is  a  certain  exercise  of  the 
will.  Entirely  diffe'rent,  however,  are  those 
paroxysms  of  fear  which  occasionally  occur  under 
the  same  conditions  but  which  can  easily  be  recog- 
nized as  pathological.  Under  no  circumstances 
should  any  form  of  coercion  be  used  with  children 
so  afflicted.  I  have  seen  serious  functional  damage 
to  the  nervous  system  produced  through  failure  to 
follow  this  rule.       The  essence    of    prophylactic 


THE    CHILDREN  261 

training  consists  in  treating  atypical  children  differ- 
ently from  normal  children,  and  not  encouraging 
them  to  activities  for  which  they  are  physically  or 
mentally  unfitted. 

Special  consideration  should  be  given  to  a 
matter  that  up  to  the  present  has  not  had  suffi- 
cient pedagogic  attention.  I  refer  to  the  execu- 
tion of  eurythmic  movements.  Coordination,  of 
course,  is  the  basis  of  these  movements,  and  it 
has  always  been  part  of  child  training  to  teach 
children  to  coordinate  their  muscles  properly  by 
means  of  repeated  exercise  so  that,  finally,  the 
entire  motor  apparatus  will  be  volitionally  con- 
trolled, and  all  inappropriate  movements  auto- 
matically eliminated.  Euiythmy,  however,  is  more 
than  coordination.  Coordination  relates  but  to 
the  physiological  bearing  of  the  mechanism  of 
movements.  Eurythmy  lays  stress,  in  addition, 
upon  the  esthetic  side — movements  are  to  be  not 
only  correct,  adjusted  and  purposeful,  but  also 
beauteous.  They  should  express  the  existence  of 
harmonic  equilibrium;  of  entire  concord  between 
each  part  and  the  whole.  The  principles  of 
eurythmy  have  been  systematized  by  Jacques 
Dalcroze.     The  basis  of  the  Dalcroze  method,  as 


262  CHILD    TRAINING 

well  as  of  other  ones  having  the  same  purpose  in 
view,  can  be  nothing  more  than  muscular  coordina- 
tion. 

Before  going  further,  let  us  see  what  coordina- 
tion really  is;  and  how  coordination  may  be 
transformed  into  eurythmy.  No  proof  is  neces- 
sary to  show  that  the  execution  of  movements 
which  are  appropriate  and  at  the  same  time  grace- 
ful in  form  presupposes  complete  control  of  the 
motor  mechanism  of  the  body.  Symmetry  of  the 
dance,  consonance  of  song,  harmony  in  speech, 
in  short  the  beauteous,  graceful  relations  of  the 
parts  to  the  whole  when  in  motion,  are  possible 
only  when  long  practise  has  so  adjusted  the  asso- 
ciated tracts  of  the  nervous  system  that  without 
the  aid  of  volition,  entirely  reflexly,  all  muscular 
movements  become  not  only  coordinated  but  also 
eurythmie. 

Every  normal  individual  in  time  learns  how 
to  use  his  muscles  correctly  and  determinedly, 
Speaking,  writing,  manual  skill  are,  as  I  have  ex- 
plained elsewhere,  nothing  else  than  psycho-phy- 
sical capabilities  produced  by  the  cooperation  of 
volitional  impulses  and  the  motor  tension  pri- 
marily present  in  the  germ  plasm.     Animals  also 


THE    CHILDREN  263 

carry  out  purposeful  movements,  learning  to  walk, 
to  find  their  nourishment,  to  defend  themselves 
against  their  enemies,  etc.,  yet  with  them  it  prob- 
ably never  is  a  question  of  the  execution  of  voli-, 
tional,  purposeful  acts,  but  always  of  instinctive 
impulses.  The  perfection  to  which  coordination 
may  be  developed  in  man  is  best  noted  in  the 
skilled  pianist,  who  has  each  smallest  muscle  group 
of  each  hand  under  separate  and  perfect  control. 
One  piano  virtuoso  among  my  acquaintances  has 
this  control  developed  to  such  an  extent  that  he 
is  able  to  bring  each  group  of  small  muscles  of 
either  hand  into  a  state  of  tremor  and  to  regulate 
the  oscillations  to  a  certain  number  per  second 
and  with  a  certain  predetermined  rhythm. 

The  motor  tract,  beginning  with  the  large 
ganglion  cells  of  the  central  convolutions,  takes 
its  course  as  the  pyramidal  fibers  to  the  cells  of 
the  anterior  horns  of  the  spinal  cord  or  to  those 
parts  of  the  brain  which  are  their  functional 
analogs.  Immediately  in  front  of  these  cells  the 
pyramidal  fibers  terminate  as  end  trees  or  den- 
drites. The  second  or  peripheral  neuron,  reach- 
ing out  to  the  muscular  fiber  itself,  begins  with 
these  cells  of  the  anterior  horns.     There  can  be 


264  CHILD    TRAINING 

no  doubt  that  the  various  parts  of  nerve  tracts 
having  the  same  function  are  continuously  asso- 
ciated. At  any  rate,  the  path  from  the  brain 
cortex  to  the  peripheral  nerves,  upon  which  the 
formations  serving  the  production  of  movement 
may  be  influenced,  is  a  long  one.  These  forma- 
tions are  not  only  the  muscles,  bones  and  joints, 
but  also  those  cells  and  fibers  in  the  brain  cortex 
that  have  associative  functions  to  fulfil,  as  well 
as  the  numerous  auxiliary  mechanisms  for  the 
production  of  even  the  most  simple  movements. 
So  far  as  the  arrangement  of  the  joints,  bones,  and 
muscles  will  permit,  we  can  move  certain  parts  of 
the  body  in  any  desired  direction.  Course, 
rapidity,  and  force  of  such  movements  are  vari- 
able. More  detailed  execution  results,  indepen- 
dently of  our  will,  from  the  use  of  a  larger  num- 
ber of  muscles,  each  one  of  which  must  be  in- 
nervated in  a  certain  order  and  at  a  definite 
moment,  to  continue  for  a  certain  length  of  time 
and  with  a  certain  force.  It  may  be  said  we 
incite  to  action  an  unknown  apparatus,  which 
then  carries  out  our  desire.  We  can  not  produce 
contractions  of  individual  muscles;  but  under  the 
influence  of  sensory  perceptions,  ideas,  and  voli- 


THE   CHILDREN  265 

tional  impulses,  we  merely  give  the  impetus  to  a 
change  in  position  of  certain  parts  of  the  body. 
In  man  there  are,  upon  the  surface  of  the  brain, 
numerous  adjoining  foci  to  which  is  confided  the 
execution  of  the  various  individual  motor  tasks 
and  which  carry  them  out  partly  directly,  partly 
by  aid  of  subcortical  mechanisms. 

Voluntary  movements  are  extraordinarily  di- 
verse. Many  of  them  can  be  executed  by  an  adult 
person  without  preparation;  others  must  first  be 
taught.  The  latter  include  the  movements  which 
are  newly  acquired  by  the  individual,  as,  for  in- 
stance, piano  playing,  and  others  which  have  been 
performed  by  innumerable  antecedent  generations 
that  have,  so  to  say,  transmitted  an  aptitude  for 
their  execution  to  the  new-born  child;  these,  for 
instance,  are  walking,  writing,  speaking,  etc. 
Just  as  there  are  many  transitional  forms  between 
one  class  of  voluntary  movements  and  another,  so 
also  there  exist  numerous  transitions  between  the 
class  of  voluntary  movements  last  mentioned  and 
those  involuntary  ones  that  the  child  uses  on 
coming  into  the  world  and  which  are  partly  auto- 
matic, partly  reflex  in  nature — for  instance, 
breathing  and   sucking.     Of  the   nature   of  these 


266  CHILD    TRAINING 

movements,  however,  there  may  be  various  inter- 
pretations. Nor  do  we  know  whether  in  all  in- 
stances coordination  is  effected  according  to  a 
uniform  principle.  In  the  life  of  every  human 
being  the  conversion  of  reflex  and  automatic  acts 
and  of  complicated  voluntary  movements  is  con- 
stantly taking  place.  An  accomplishment  acquired 
by  means  of  the  utmost  care  and  attention  is 
carried  out  later  of  itself,  like  the  simplest  volun- 
tary movement,  in  an  orderly  and  precise  manner, 
whenever  the  will  demands.  How  does  this  come 
about?  By  aid  of  the  sensory  perception  under 
constant  control  of  consciousness,  the  individual 
movements  are  first  made  to  follow  one  another 
slowly  and  deliberately.  When  this  has  been 
done  frequently  enough  one  movement  will  follow 
a  preceding  one  involuntarily,  and  finally  the 
entire  action  will  take  place  rapidly  without  any 
thought  or  consideration  for  the  kind  or  extent  of 
the  single  movements.  The  cardinal  question  is. 
How  does  this  conversion  take  place,  and  how  is 
the  regulation  of  complicated  reflexes  effected? 

Certain  facts  are  known.  There  are  in  the 
central  nervous  system  certain  locations  from 
which  these  reflexes,  the  automatic  and  a  series  of 


THE    CHILDREN  2G7 

volitional  movements  hereditarily  transmitted,  can 
be  incited  to  precise  and  coordinated  action. 
These  locations  or  centers  may  be  peripherally  or 
centrally  stimulated  and  such  stimulation  may  be 
due  to  causes  arising  outside  or  inside  of  the  body. 
Just  how  the  coordination  is  brought  about  is  not 
yet  known.  Two  possibilities  seem  to  exist.  As 
a  result  of  frequent  repetition  of  certain  move- 
ments, certain  cells  and  tracts  are  used  so  often, 
their  defenses  against  innervations  are  so  much 
weakened,  that  finally  a  certain  stimulus  will 
cause  the  resultant  excitation  to  follow  the  same 
path  in  every  instance.  But  how  can  we  explain 
the  adaptation  to  the  variation  of  stimulus  that 
occurs  during  a  movement?  To  answer  this,  the 
second  possibility  must  be  thought  of,  viz.,  that 
the  innervation  just  mentioned  may  be  received 
through  centripetal  excitations  from  the  periphery. 
Numerous  animal  experiments  make  this  seem  very 
probable.  Through  section  of  the  posterior  roots 
of  the  spinal  nerves  in  frogs,  dogs  and  monkeys, 
there  have  been  caused  marked  disturbances  of 
the  regulated  reflexes  as  well  as  of  certain  kinds 
of  voluntary  movements,  such  as  jumping  and 
running.     The    result    of    such    root    section    was 


268  CHILD    TRAINING 

ataxia — a  state  in  which  certain  parts  of  the  body 
can  no  longer  be  moved  to  a  certain  point  with 
the  accuracy  and  aimfulness  desired,  but,  owing 
to  faulty  innervation  of  the  active  muscles  them- 
selves and  of  their  antagonists,  reach  their  destina- 
tion by  useless  deviations.  The  muscles  used  for  the 
really  voluntary  movements  receive  a  certain  cor- 
relation in  the  brain  cortex  itself.  Experimental 
electrical  stimulation  of  the  brain  has  shown  that 
only  composite  movements  can  be  elicited  from  the 
brain  cortex  and  never  can  individual  muscles  be 
incited  to  contraction.  A  further  conjunction  of 
certain  muscles  for  definite  movements  is  pro- 
duced by  the  spatial  allocation  of  the  anterior 
horn  cells  and  their  root  fibers.  These  few  facts 
represent  practically  all  our  definite  knowledge 
regarding  pure  motor  coordination. 

What  influence  then  do  centripetal  stimuli  exert 
upon  the  course  of  our  voluntary  innervation? 
In  order  to  answer  this  question  two  kinds  of 
such  stimuli  must  be  differentiated — those  that 
cause  sensory  perceptions,  and  those  that  reveal 
their  effect  without  passing  the  threshold  of  con- 
sciousness. Yet  it  is  most  difficult  really  to  keep 
these  two  apart,  for  the  threshold  of  our  conscious- 


THE    CHILDREN  269 

ness  varies  markedly  with  the  state  of  our  atten- 
tion, and  centripetal  impressions  may  produce  sen- 
sory perceptions  and  motor  effects  at  one  and  the 
same  time,  and  yet  the  two  may  not  be  identical. 
Certainly  numerous  sensory  impressions  exert  a 
marked  influence  upon  the  more  delicate  adjust- 
ment of  our  movements.  As  we  have  already 
indicated,  it  is  by  means  of  the  sensory  impres- 
sions conveyed  through  the  organs  of  special  sense, 
and  through  the  skin,  muscles,  joints,  and  bones 
that  coordination  is  acquired.  But  the  individual 
sensory  impressions  are  of  most  unequal  value  for 
the  coordination  of  acquired  movements.  Altho 
extended  mutual  substitutions  and  compensations 
do  take  place,  it  has  been  shown  that  where  all 
the  centripetal  impressions  from  an  extremity 
have  been  lost,  preservation  of  the  senses  of  sight 
and  hearing  did  not  suffice  to  maintain  the  co- 
ordination of  certain  movements  as,  for  instance, 
grasping  an  object,  running,  etc.  On  the  other 
hand,  coordination  is  not  annulled  by  loss  of 
skin  sensation  alone.  Laborious  training  enables 
us  voluntarily  to  control  the  activation  of  many 
reflexes.  Certain  ones,  as,  for  instance,  the  con- 
traction of  the  pupil  when  exposed  to  the  action 


270  CHILD    TRAINING 

of  light,  can  not  be  supprest  by  any  force  of 
the  will.  But  just  as  the  child  may  be  trained  to 
control  the  evacuations  of  its  body — these  also 
being  reflex  acts — so  also  is  it  possible  by  force  of 
will  to  transform  other  involuntary  movements 
into  voluntary  ones;  the  child,  for  example,  may 
be  taught  so  to  control  its  emotions,  anger,  pleas- 
ure, fear,  etc.,  that  they  will  not  find  reflex  expres- 
sion in  shrieking,  facial  distortion,  striking,  push- 
ing, etc. 

Undoubtedly,  many  reflex  movements  in  them- 
selves are  coordinate  and  purposeful,  representing 
the  natural  and  physiological  expression  of  certain 
stimuli  and  excitations.  Yet  so  long  as  they  re- 
main unbridled  and  not  volitionally  controlled, 
they  can  not  be  termed  eurythmic. 

From  my  explanation  it  must  now  be  clear  that 
there  may  well  be  coordination  without  eurythmy 
but  there  can  be  no  eurythmy  without  coordina- 
tion. Eurythmy  is  nothing  more  than  an  artificial 
accession  of  natural  coordination.  Without  this 
natural  coordination  there  can  be  no  eurythmy. 
When  an  interruption  of  peripheral  nerve  con- 
duction or  central  disease  has  disturbed  the  re- 
lationship between  sensation  and  motion,  defective 


THE    CHILDREN  271 

coordination  necessarily  results.  Then  the  affected 
groups  of  muscles  are  no  longer  under  perfect 
voluntary  control,  and  consequently  there  can  no 
longer  be  any  question  of  eurythmic  exercise. 
Eurythmy  under  all  circumstances  presupposes 
the  intactness  of  those  coordinatory  provisions 
which  are  to  be  esthetically  perfectioned.  Where 
the  coordinatory  mechanism  is  completely  dis- 
ordered, eurythmy  is  entirely  out  of  the  question ; 
where  the  disorder  is  a  partial  one,  that  portion 
of  the  motor  apparatus  not  implicated  by  the 
disturbances  of  coordination  may  well  be  develop- 
ed through  assiduous  practise.  In  this  manner 
it  is  even  possible  to  a  certain  extent  to  cover 
up  the  defects  caused  by  the  functional  failure  of 
certain  muscle  groups  by  means  of  graceful  move- 
ments of  the  remaining  healthy  ones.  While  every 
normal  individual  acquires  the  power  of  physio- 
logical muscular  coordination,  the  movements  pro- 
duced thereby  are  not  necessarily  eurythmic.  The 
esthetic  quality  of  eurythmy  is  added  when  the 
physiological  stimuli  and  excitation  which  call 
into  action  involuntary  and  voluntary  movements 
are  conjoined  with  special  concepts  acting  in  part 
as  inhibitory,  in  part  as  activating  impulses. 


272  CHILD    TRAINING 

Eurythmy,  moreover,  is  governed  entirely  by 
the  law  of  psycho-physical  parallelism,  certain 
notions  corresponding  to  certain  movements. 
Here,  however,  the  notions  are  not  only  purpose- 
ful but  also  esthetic  in  character.  Through  con- 
stant practise  in  speaking,  walking,  dancing,  etc., 
all  motor  impulses  except  those  inhibitory  ones 
which  aim  at  the  suppression  of  awkward  move- 
ments, and  those  activating  ones  that  tend  toward 
the  production  of  graceful  movements,  will  become 
excluded,  until  in  the  end  the  muscular  groups 
constantly  called  into  action  will  act  automatic- 
ally whenever  motor  impulses  of  any  kind  are 
aroused.  A  climax  in  this  respect  was  attained 
by  the  classic  period  of  antiquity.  The  Greeks 
realized  their  idea  of  the  beautiful  in  part  by  aid 
of  eurythmy,  a  fact  all  the  more  astonishing  be- 
cause they  had  but  the  most  meager  notions  of 
the  anatomy  and  physiology  of  the  human  body; 
knew  nothing  of  the  law  of  psycho-physical  par- 
allelism, and  hence  were  obliged  to  base  eurythmy 
entirely  upon  empirical  observation. 

For  us  eurythmy  does  not  represent  knowledge 
derived  from  experience,  but  is  an  experimentally 
proved  fact.      Whenever   definite   ideas  have   be- 


L....  ..i.-.i.    J'iate  A). 

Correlation  of  Movements. 


THE    CHILDREN  273 

come  sufficiently  anchored  in  the  brain,  they 
activate  the  production  of  definite  movements  and, 
after  the  relative  nerve  tracts  have  become  prop- 
erly adjusted,  the  movements  that  were  originally 
volitional  and  were  acquired  by  constant  practise 
gradually  became  automatic.  This  is  the  basic  law 
upon  which  coordination  and  eurythmy  depend. 

An  excellent  aid  in  the  acquirement  of  euryth- 
mic  movements  is  music.  "We  all  know  how 
dancing,  marching,  etc.,  will  cause  all  movements 
involuntarily  to  adapt  themselves  to  its  meter. 
This  fact  has  been  made  a  starting  point  for  a 
special  eurythmic  musical  method  by  Alys  E. 
Bentley  of  New  York,  She  believes,  as  do  Holmes 
and  others,  that  every  person  possesses  a  certaia 
musical  sense  which  needs  only  to  be  developed  in 
order  to  produce  "musical"  movements — that  is, 
movements  that  follow  a  certain  meter,  that  have 
a  certain  harmony.  Through  practise  and  habit 
this  musical  sense  gradually  becomes  an  integral 
part  of  the  individual;  all  these  movements,  so  to 
say,  are  then  characterized  by  a  certain  rhythm. 
Miss  Bentley  bases  her  method  upon  the  law  of 
progression.  She  proceeds  from  the  simple  to  the 
more  complicated,  commencing  with  simple  tones 


274  CHILD    TRAINING 

produced  by  a  flute  or  a  violin  and,  later,  going  on 
to  compound  melodies.  She  considers  the  piano, 
on  account  of  its  complexity,  not  adapted  for  the 
development  of  musical  sense.  The  object  of  her 
method  is  not  to  train  children  in  piano  playing 
or  to  teach  them  the  use  of  any  other  musical 
instrument,  but  by  the  aid  of  music  to  accustom 
them  to  beautiful,  graceful  movements.  In  chil- 
dren a  musical  sense  is  only  rudimentarily  pres- 
ent; it  can  be  developed,  therefore,  not  by  the 
aid  of  complicated  melodies  which  the  brain  is 
unable  to  fixate,  but  only  through  the  impressions 
derived  from  simple  tones. 

The  manner  in  which  all  the  muscles  of  the 
body  finally  become  correlated  and  act  with  grace 
and  precision,  is  shown  by  the  accompanying 
photographs  of  some  of  Miss  Bentley's  work. 
That  such  fine  control  of  the  muscular  movements 
must  have  a  vivifying  influence  upon  the  thought 
processes  is  clear  to  every  one  who  has  grasped  the 
law  of  psycho-physical  parallelism. 


THE    CHILDREN  275 

C.  INTELLECTUAL  DEVELOPMENT 

In  order  that  the  child  may  become  a  useful 
member  of  human  society  it  is  not  sufficient  that 
it  have  a  healthy  body.  It  must  also  have  a 
certain  sum  of  knowledge  and  skill,  by  means  of 
which  it  will  ultimately  be  able  to  earn  its  own 
livelihood.  The  transmission  of  such  knowledge 
and  skill  is  the  task  of  instruction.  Intellectual 
development  is  inseparably  linked  with  sensory 
activity,  and  is  elaborated  from  those  concepts 
which  the  child  has  already  acquired  through 
personal  observation.  The  power  of  thought  asso- 
ciation must,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  present,  other- 
wise the  psychologic  basis  for  instruction  would 
be  lacking.  Then,  too,  just  as  the  development 
of  sensory  activity  gradually  leads  to  development 
of  the  attention  and  the  power  of  apperception, 
instruction  must  take  place  step  by  step.  The 
better  it  adapts  itself  to  the  laws  of  evolution  and 
progression,  the  more  effective  will  it  be.  Herein 
lies,  as  I  have  already  indicated,  the  secret  of 
Madame  Montessori's  success,  for  her  method 
keeps  close  to  the  path  which  nature  has  laid  out. 

Let    us    fii-st    consider    the    manual    instruction 


276  CHILD    TRAINING 

which  is  so  highly  valued  not  only  by  Dr.  Mon- 
tessori  but  by  all  discerning  pedagogs,  and  which, 
in  a  way,  represents  the  link  between  physical 
and  intellectual  development.  Through  it  not 
only  are  the  muscles  of  the  hand  brought  under 
control  of  the  will,  but  also  a  large  number  of 
concepts  are  aroused.  INIanual  instruction  in  a 
measure  represents  an  elaboration  and  perfection 
of  gymnastic  exercises.  While  the  latter  require 
the  use  mainly  of  the  larger  groups  of  muscles, 
manual  training  calls  into  play  relatively  small 
muscles  and  groups,  which,  however,  are  capable 
of  the  highest  and  most  perfected  activities. 

I  need  but  refer  to  the  well-known  statement 
of  ITerbart,  ' '  The  hand  takes  the  place  of  honor 
by  the  side  of  speech  in  raising  man  above  the 
animal." 

It  is  the  hand,  of  course,  which  makes  writing 
and  drawing  possible.  Kindergarten  occupations 
are  closely  akin  to  the  manual  training  exercises, 
and  both  may  be  so  combined  as  to  constitute  a 
composite  entity.  Hand  training  is  brought  about 
first  by  means  of  movements  of  the  entire  hand. 
These  are  followed  by  movements  of  the  single 
fingers,   these   being  flexed   and   extended.     Then 


THE   CHILDREN  277 

the  more  complicated  movements,  apposition  of 
the  thumb  to  the  single  fingers,  crossing  one 
finger  over  the  other,  etc.,  are  added.  Finally 
the  movements  which  are  of  importance  in  prac- 
tical life,  buttoning  and  unbuttoning,  locking  and 
unlocking  with  a  key,  drilling  holes,  driving  nails, 
threading  a  needle,  etc.,  are  taught.  More  recently 
many  physicians  and  pedagogs  have  demanded 
that  the  left  hand  be  trained  in  the  same  manner 
and  as  thoroughly  as  the  right.  Many  muscles 
of  the  body  are  used  only  in  conjunction  with 
their  counterparts  of  the  opposite  side;  others, 
while  generally  used  alone,  may  be  and  frequently 
are  used  conjointly  with  their  counterparts.  The 
muscles  always  used  alone  are  represented  only 
unilaterally  in  the  cortex,  while  those  used  con- 
jointly are  bilaterally  represented  so  that  uni- 
lateral movements  can  be  excited  only  from  one — 
the  opposite — hemisphere,  while  bilateral  move- 
ments can  be  excited  from  either  hemisphere. 
Finally,  those  muscles  which  are  sometimes  used 
alone  and  at  other  times  conjointly  are  connected 
with  both  hemispheres,  but  are  generally  excited 
from  only  one — the  opposite  hemisphere. 

This  fact,   first  advanced   as   a  hypothesis,   by 


278  CHILD    TRAINING 

Broadbent,  would  explain  why  the  skilled  train- 
ing of  one  hand  for  certain  movements  will  simul- 
taneously, to  a  certain  degree,  develop  in  the 
other  hand  the  ability  to  perform  these  same 
movements;  but  in  order  that  the  latter  should 
acquire  the  same  degree  of  skill  as  the  one  speci- 
ally trained,  it  also  must  have  special  training. 
Theoretically  this  would  seem  to  be  possible,  but 
as  a  matter  of  fact  practically  all  attempts  to 
produce  ambidexterity  in  children  have  resulted 
in  failure.  Gulick,  than  whom  no  one  has  had 
more  experience  in  the  physical  training  of  chil- 
dren, says:  "I  have  repeatedly  endeavored  to 
train  the  left  side  of  the  body  to  throw  a  ball 
as  readily  as  does  the  right  hand;  but  even  with 
the  best  training  the  ordinary  man  will  still  throw 
with  the  left  hand  in  the  same  way  as  a  woman 
does  with  her  right  hand." 

Considering  the  difficulties  encountered  in  such 
bilateral  training,  it  does  not  seem  that  the  effort, 
even  if  we  could  succeed,  would  be  worth  while. 
The  only  pedagogic  value  attached  to  training 
the  left  hand  to  do  the  same  work  as  the  right 
is  that  such  training  produces  increased  acuity  of 
attention.     Careful  self-observation  will  show  that 


THE    CHILDREN  279 

the  left  hand,  when  executing  movements  which 
are  habitually  carried  out  by  the  right,  usually 
works  in  the  opposite  direction.  This  explains 
the  production  of  so-called  mirror  writing.  When 
the  child,  using  its  left  hand  to  reproduce  writing 
movements  it  has  learned  to  carry  out  with  its 
right  hand,  produces  mirror  writing,  this  is  to  be 
regarded  merely  as  proof  that  the  child  in  no 
way  opposes  the  original  tendency  toward  a  sym- 
metrical repetition  of  the  right-handed  movements. 
Such  opposition  could  exist  only  in  the  presence 
of  a  higher  degree  of  attention  than  we  have  a 
right  to  assume  exists  in  younger  or  physically 
deficient  children.  Those  children  who  when 
writing  with  the  left  hand  do  not  produce  mirror 
writing,  clearly  have  attained  the  power  of  dis- 
tinctly visualizing  each  written  character,  and 
then  through  concentration  of  attention  carrying 
out  the  writing  movements  in  accordance  with 
such  mental  pictures. 

When  the  child,  in  the  course  of  its  instruction, 
has  attained  sufficient  manual  dexterity,  the  con- 
struction of  simple  objects  of  clay,  pasteboard 
and  wood  is  taken  up.  The  more  independent  the 
activity  of  the  child  during  such  work,  the  greater 


280  CHILD    TRAINING 

will  be  its  usefulness  in  the  child's  entire  mental 
development.  For  this  reason,  if  the  teacher  aids 
the  pupil  to  such  an  extent  that  the  objects  when 
finished  show  but  little  of  the  child's  actual  work, 
the  true  aim  of  manual  training  is  not  achieved. 
The  same  holds  true  as  regards  sewing  different 
colored  patterns  upon  traced  cardboard,  braiding 
and  weaving  with  varicolored  strips  of  paper  and 
strands  of  worsted,  to  staff  laying  and  to  build- 
ing by  means  of  building  blocks.  All  these  exer- 
cises are  very  useful,  but  the  children  must  be 
permitted  to  act  as  independently  as  possible; 
otherwise  all  training  value  is  lost.  More  especi- 
ally does  this  apply  to  building.  The  child  is 
able,  without  difficulty,  to  recognize  in  the  actual 
objects  about  him  the  different  parts,  the  chair, 
table  or  house,  which  he  has  constructed  with  a 
few  blocks.  This  activity  gives  him  double  pleas- 
ure when  there  is  no  unnecessary  interference 
with  his  work.  Inasmuch  as  this  construction 
work  calls  forth  a  number  of  similar  representa- 
tions in  the  child's  mind,  and  gives  him  the 
opportunity  to  recognize  constant  appearances  of 
objects  as  characteristics  of  them,  the  simple 
edifices    which    the    child    constructs    receive    the 


THE   CHILDREN  281 

character  of  representative  ideas  and  gradually 
lead  him  to  a  conceptual  mode  of  thought.  In 
this  sense  manual  training  represents  the  most 
intense  kind  of  objective  instruction. 

Closely  allied  to  the  fabrication  of  simple  forms 
from  clay,  pasteboard  or  wood,  is  drawing — especi- 
ally drawing  from  nature,  since  this  requires  a 
certain  amount  of  ideational  control.  Even  when 
drawings  consist  merely  of  a  few  pencil  strokes, 
they  often  enable  the  teacher  to  discern  whether 
and  to  what  extent  the  child  has  comprehended 
the  object  it  has  observed.  Whether  the  draw- 
ings have  been  executed  with  technical  correctness 
or  not  is  a  matter  of  entirely  secondary  impor- 
tance. Step  by  step  the  instruction  should  pro- 
gress from  simple  objects  to  more  complicated 
ones,  from  pictures  of  one  object  to  pictures  of  a 
group  of  objects.  For  instance,  the  child  at  first 
depicts  a  tree  by  a  single  vertical  stroke,  repre- 
senting the  trunk,  from  which  diagonal  strokes 
radiate  to  the  right  and  to  the  left,  representing 
the  branches.  At  a  later  stage  it  makes  marks  by 
which  the  twigs  and  leaves  are  also  represented. 
Finally  the  trunk  of  the  tree  may  be  emphasized 
by  shading,  and  its  species  shown  by  the  special 


282  CHILD    TRAINING 

form  of  its  leaves  and  by  any  fruit  which  it  may 
boar.  Decorative  drawing  is  of  far  less  value 
than  drawing  from  nature,  for,  while  it  gives  a 
certain  technical  dexterity  and  teaches  the  appli- 
cation of  geometrical  forms,  all  this  may  also  be 
attained  without  difficulty  through  drawing  from 
nature.  Considerations  of  an  esthetic  kind  need 
not  be  considered  in  the  more  general  instruction, 
altho  for  specially  talented  children  they  should 
not  be  overlooked. 

So  far  as  concerns  writing,  which  is  merely  a 
form  of  elementary  drawing,  I  will  limit  myself 
to  the  remark  that  the  upright  form  of  writing 
should  have  preference  over  the  inclined  form. 
From  a  physician's  view-point  this  statement  de- 
serves special  emphasis  because  the  posture  of  the 
body  during  inclined  writing  tends  toward  spinal 
curvature.  Undoubtedly,  also,  we  should  con- 
sider here  whether  the  construction  of  the  school 
seats  is  such  as  to  involve  harmful  consequences. 
Unhygienic  school  furnishings  are  responsible  in 
many  ways  for  injury  to  the  health  of  the  pupils. 
At  this  time,  however,  I  can  not  go  more  minutely 
into  the  question  of  school  hygiene  as  it  would 
lead  too  far  from  the  province  of  this  book. 


THE   CHILDREN  283 

A  very  important  place  in  the  scheme  of  in- 
struction must  also  be  accorded  to  singing.  Aside 
from  the  respiratory  gymnastic  value  of  singing, 
it  has  been  repeatedly  noted  that  speech  disorders 
may  be  improved  by  such  exercise.  Stuttering 
children  and  those  who  have  become  apathetic  as 
a  result  of  some  brain  affection  can  be  made  to 
sing  arid,  while  so  doing,  to  pronounce  their  words 
clearly  and  distinctly.  Later  they  are  able  even 
to  recite  faultlessly  the  text  of  songs  with  which 
they  are  familiar,  and  through  the  by-path  of 
singing  they  regain  the  power  of  speech.  Further- 
more we  should  not  fail  to  consider  that  the 
fatigue  produced  by  singing  lessons  is  far  less 
than  that  incidental  to  any  other  branch  of  in- 
struction and,  for  this  reason,  singing  is  one  of 
the  best  liked  branches.  The  songs,  however, 
must  be  adapted  to  the  taste  and  understanding 
of  the  children.  Finally,  let  us  not  forget  the 
influence  of  song  in  arousing  the  higher  emotions 
of  the  child  and  thereby  elevating  it  beyond 
purely  material  concerns.  Through  song  the 
feasts  and  celebrations  which  interrupt  the  uni- 
formity of  daily  occupation  assume  their  proper 
impressiveness. 


284  CHILD    TKAINING 

Because  of  the  educational  significance  of  song 
and  its  marked  influence  in  tlie  emotional  sphere 
of  the  child,  there  is  imposed  upon  the  teacher 
the  obligation  of  insisting  that  even  those  pupils 
who  are  unable  to  take  an  active  part  in  singing 
exercises  be  present  while  they  are  going  on.  A 
child  that  reacts  to  tones  of  speech  indifferently, 
or  not  at  all,  often  gives  plain  evidence  of  being 
pleasurably  stimulated  by  a  song  which  it  knows, 
or  a  melody  upon  the  piano  with  which  it  is 
familiar;  with  sufficient  repetitions  of  the  song  it 
will  not  be  long  before  the  child  of  itself  attempts 
to  sing  the  melody.  This  fact  seems  to  me  to 
give  even  more  emphasis  to  the  importance  of 
individualization  in  instruction.  When  this  is 
neglected  the  work  of  the  teacher  can  not  be  pro- 
ductive of  results,  for  the  pupil  will  face  im- 
possible demands,  under  which  it  must  fail.  When 
a  child  shows  normal  progress  in  various  branches 
of  instruction,  but  remains  markedly  backward  in 
others,  the  cause  for  its  failing  is  less  often  an 
inherent  fault  than  the  inadequacy  of  the  manner 
of  instruction.  Some  children  fail  only  because 
they  are  unduly  apprehensive  and  timid,  a  fact 
very    frequently    overlooked;    in    such    cases    the 


THE    CHILDREN  285 

suggestive  power  of  the  teacher's  personality  may- 
contribute  much  toward  giving  the  pupils  self- 
confidence. 

Correct  speaking  is  of  extraordinary  importance 
for  practical  life.  Slight  speech  defects,  like 
stammering  and  stuttering,  are  often  dependent 
upon  timidity.  Rough  treatment  or  sarcasm  will 
only  enhance  the  evil.  By  convincing  the  child, 
through  quiet  admonition,  that  it  is  perfectly  able 
to  repeat  the  words  spoken  to  it,  a  very  surprizing 
diminution  of  the  speech  defect  is  often  obtained. 
Of  course,  no  such  method  is  applicable  to  chil- 
dren in  whom  the  disorder  of  speech  is  dependent 
upon  a  lack  of  intelligence.  In  such  cases  the 
disorder  usually  passes  away  with  an  increasing 
development  of  the  intellectual  faculties,  and 
therefore  physiological  exercises  of  the  respiratory, 
vocal,  and  articulatory  musculature  should  be  com- 
bined with  a  method  of  instruction  which  will 
extend  the  conceptual  circle  of  the  child.  Espe- 
cially should  the  attempt  be  made  to  have  the 
child  of  itself,  by  the  help  of  its  own  ear,  correct 
erroneously  spoken  words.  The  pupil  should  be 
made  to  obtain  a  clear  idea  how  each  single  tone 
is  produced  and  at  the  same  time  should  be  taught 


286  CHILD    TRAINING 

to  associate  every  word  with  its  correct  meaning. 
To  accomplish  this  the  principle  of  visualization 
should  be  followed  and  every  new  word  illustrated 
by  a  demonstration  of  the  actual  object,  of  a 
model  or  of  a  picture.  Heller  makes  the  follow- 
ing suggestions: 

First,  Combine  a  demonstration  of  the  object 
with  a  slow,  distinct  pronunciation  of  the  word 
which  represents  it. 

Secondly,  Lead  the  child  to  repeat  the  word  by 
means  of  lip  reading. 

Thirdly,  Transmit  the  word  through  the  ear 
alone  without  permitting  it  to  be  read  from  the 
lips. 

Fourthly,  After  showing  the  object,  ask  the 
child  to  pronounce  the  word  spontaneously. 

By  exercising  itself  in  this  manner  the  child 
not  only  increases  its  store  of  words,  but  also 
rapidly  acquires  the  capability  of  correcting  its 
erroneous  expressions  of  speech  by  means  of  its 
own  hearing.  Since  these  exercises  in  the  begin- 
ning are  necessarily  fatiguing,  the  lessons  should 
be  short. 

We  can  not  go  into  particulars  concerning  the 
various  methods  of  instruction  in  writing,   read- 


THE    CHILDREN  287 

iiig,  arithmetic,  natural  history  and  other  subjects, 
inasmuch  as  they  are  in  great  part  only  of  peda- 
gogic and  not  of  medical  interest.  I  would  re- 
mark, however,  that  in  relation  to  all  these  sub- 
jects the  question  of  chief  importance  is  not  so 
much  the  many-sidedness  and  the  quantity  of  the 
didactic  material,  as  it  is  the  leading  of  the  chil- 
dren to  independence  in  observation,  thought  and 
judgment.  In  order  that  this  end  may  be  at- 
tained, we  must  steadfastly  bear  in  mind  that 
the  intellectual  endowment  of  children  not  only 
in  general,  but  also  in  certain  individual  branches 
of  instruction,  is  subject  to  great  fluctuations. 
Some  children  attain  superiority  through  their  re- 
markable ability  to  remember,  others  astonish  us 
by  their  mathematical  talent,  while  perhaps  they 
are  able  to  make  but  little  progress  in  the  study 
of  languages,  etc.  All  these  variations  may  re- 
main well  within  physiological  limits  so  that  the 
school  routine,  which  must  be  modeled  in  accord- 
ance with  a  certain  average  endowment,  will  not 
be  in  any  way  disturbed  thereby. 

Matters  change,  however,  when  these  variations 
in  ability  transgress  the  physiological  bounds. 
The  remedial  pedagogic  procedure  to  be  employed 


288  CHILD    TRAINING 

in  children  afflicted  with  palpable  pathological 
defects  (idiocy,  etc.)  will  be  discust  later,  in 
the  chapter  on  Therapeutic  Education. 

There  are  children,  however,  who,  altho  not 
entirely  normal,  can  not  with  accuracy  be  called 
pathological.  These,  therefore,  must  be  classed 
somewhere  between  health  and  disease.  This  dis- 
tinction has  already  been  mentioned,  and  I  refer 
to  it  again  only  because  we  have  reached  the 
point  at  which  we  should  understand  what  is  to 
be  done  with  such  children.  The  pedagogical 
principle  which  requires  us  to  bring  out  of  chil- 
dren all  that  can  be  brought  out,  and  to  make 
of  them  all  that  can  be  made  of  them,  demands 
two  things — firstly,  freedom  from  those  influences 
which  may  act  deleteriously  upon  the  develop- 
ment of  the  child;  and  secondly,  the  saving  of 
all  that  still  can  be  saved  in  a  child  that  has 
already  suffered  injury  through  hereditary  taint 
or  through  unfavorable  conditions. 

If  atypical  children  go  to  school  together  with 
normal  children  of  their  own  age,  the  instruction 
of  all  will  inevitably  be  impeded.  An  individual- 
ization so  far-reaching  as  to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  capability  of  each  pupil  is  entirely  im- 


THE    CHILDREN  289 

practicable  in  the  public  schools.  Where  the  in- 
struction is  adapted  mainly  to  the  capabilities  of 
the  less  talented  children,  the  better-endowed  will 
remain  behind  and  will  not  attain  that  stage  of 
intellectual  development  which  they  should.  If, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  plan  of  instruction  con- 
siders only  the  better-endowed,  the  latter  may 
make  profitable  progress  while  the  less  talented 
remain  behind.  To  make  the  same  demands  upon 
the  defective  ones  as  upon  the  others  would  mean 
to  bring  something  out  of  them  which  is  not  in 
them.  Nor  can  they  be  forced  or  punished.  In 
dealing  with  atypical  children  the  strange  fact 
soon  manifests  itself  that  in  them  those  pedagogic 
influences  which  always  prove  efficient  with  nor- 
mal children  remain  without  effect.  If  we  are  to 
save  what  still  can  be  saved  in  them,  it  can  only 
be  done  by  means  of  instruction  adapted  to  their 
mental  capabilities.  All  other  instruction  would 
constitute  an  overburden  under  which  the  atypical 
children  would  break  down,  and  then  they  would 
be  unable  to  do  any  further  work.  Even  among 
normal  school  children  the  question  of  overburden- 
ing occasionally  becomes  acute.  In  this  connection 
I  can  not  repress  the  statement  that  altho  school 


290  CHILD    TRAINING 

children  in  my  opinion  are  obliged  to  learn  an 
unnecessary  amount  by  rote,  the  so-called  over- 
burdening is  the  result  either  of  erroneous  methods 
of  instruction  and  tlie  consequent  difficulty  in 
learning,  or  of  the  fact  that  the  children,  in 
consequence  of  under-nourishment,  unhealthy 
manner  of  work  and  surroundings,  or  other  dele- 
terious conditions,  are  no  longer  up  to  their 
normal  efficiency. 

Because  of  the  overburdening  mentally  deficient 
children,  instead  of  profiting  through  attendance 
in  the  public  schools,  suffer  a  diminution  in 
efficiency.  To  prevent  this  they  must  be  instructed 
separately  from  normal  children  of  their  own  age. 
The  only  possible  means  of  preventing  in- 
creased defectiveness  is  to  assign  tlie  deficient 
children  to  special  classes  for  instruction.  Let  me 
recall  at  this  point  what  I  have  said  elsewhere  in 
regard  to  the  Binet  test  and  the  mental  or  Binet 
age  derived  from  it.  Where  there  are  no  supple- 
mentary schools  or  special  classes,  nothing  re- 
mains to  be  done  save  to  instruct  the  mentally 
retarded  children  together  with  younger  children 
of  the  same  Binet  age.  Wherever  possible  this 
should    be    avoided.     For,    aside    from    the    many 


THE    CHILDREN  291 

discordancies  which  will  arise  when,  for  example, 
fourteen-year-old  and  eight-year-old  children  are 
placed  side  by  side  in  school,  the  instruction 
must  also  be  given  according  to  a  special  method, 
by  teachers  who  have  the  proper  understanding 
of  the  children's  peculiarities. 

Much  credit  is  due  to  Koch  for  the  work  he 
has  done  in  encouraging  the  establishment  of  sup- 
plementary schools  for  poorly  endowed  and  de- 
ficient children.  The  preface  to  his  book  says: 
"Educators  and  parents  could  mitigate  many  a 
disorder,  prevent  many  an  ill,  if  they  would  give 
some  thought  to  the  causes  of  abnormal  manifesta- 
tions. They  would  then  perceive  and  understand 
the  apparent  mannerisms,  the  laziness,  the  mere 
slowness  and  the  peculiarity,  or  even  the  extra- 
ordinary talent  and  promising  'genius'  of  many  a 
child,  in  a  manner  different  from  the  traditional 
one,  and  would  perhaps,  notwithstanding  its  shim- 
mering blossoms,  curb  the  imagination  of  one 
pupil,  repress  and  dampen  the  ardor  of  another, 
and  thus  prevent  the  brief  pleasure  produced  by 
their  own  vanity  from  encountering  an  abrupt 
end." 

These  words  contain  several  noteworthy  sugges- 


292  CHILD    TRAINING 

tions  in  regard  to  prophylactic  training.  For  of 
all  the  direct  causes  of  disturbance  of  the  child's 
development,  those  which  endeavor  to  accelerate 
artificially  the  child's  natural  mental  progress 
must  be  considered  first.  All  endeavors  tending 
toward  the  production  of  artificial  prematurity 
merit  universal  condemnation  by  rational  physi- 
cians and  pedagogs.  Chief  among  these  are  school 
attendance  at  too  early  an  age,  premature  musical 
instruction  of  children  who  do  not  show  the 
slightest  degree  of  musical  talent,  and,  more  es- 
pecially, the  premature  kindling  of  the  child's 
ambitions.  In  the  same  measure  that  we  esteem 
and  encourage  ambition  which  is  the  product  of 
healthy  character  growth  should  we  discounten- 
ance that  depraved  ambition  which  is  based  solely 
on  endless  self-exaction  with  the  purpose  of  sur- 
passing classmates  or  companions  in  every  pos- 
sible way.  Such  competition  is  not  only  detri- 
mental to  mental  development  on  account  of  the 
inordinate  exertion  it  involves,  but  it  also  may 
be  damaging  from  an  ethical  point  of  view  be- 
cause it  engenders  in  the  mind  of  the  child  such 
baser  passions  as  hate,  jealousy  and  envy.  All 
open  displays  of  marks  of  merit  which  emphasize 


THE    CHILDREN  293 

the  greater  accomplishments  of  one  child  as  com- 
pared with  another  should  be  discouraged.  In 
my  opinion,  moreover,  re-assignment  of  seats  after 
every  examination  on  the  basis  of  the  comparative 
showing  of  the  pupils  is  an  objectionable  institu- 
tion. As  a  result  of  an  arrangement  of  this  sort 
the  pupils  are  never  quite  at  ease;  the  fear  of 
some  that  they  will  be  sent  down  and  the  ambition 
of  others  to  rise  keeps  all  in  a  state  of  emotional 
unrest  which  can  not  but  exert  a  pernicious  in- 
fluence upon  their  nervous  systems. 

A  danger  little  considered,  but  none  the  less 
real,  is  the  preclusion  of  children  from  the  com- 
panionship of  other  children  of  their  own  age, 
obliging  them  to  associate  entirely  with  grown-up 
people.  To  this  are  to  be  attributed  the  pre- 
cociousness  and  other  psycho-pathological  mani- 
festations so  often  observed  in  the  only  child. 
Seclusion  of  the  only  child  from  other  children  is 
often  enforced  by  parents  through  fear  that  the 
favored  one  may  be  exposed  to  the  contagion  of 
disease  or  may  acquire  bad  habits  or  vices  through 
imitation.  Both  of  the  possibilities,  however,  can 
not  be  entirely  avoided,  even  with  the  greatest 
care,  and  they  cei'tainly  do  not  justify  the  bar- 


294  CHILD    TRAINING 

barity  of  a  measure  which  ignores  or  minimizes 
the  child's  natural  social  requirements.  Children 
whose  desires  and  impulses  find  no  natural  outlet 
will  necessarily  have  recourse  to  stilted  artificial 
occupation  as  a  substitute  for  the  games  of  child- 
hood wliicli  are  of  such  extraordinary  import  for 
their  mental  development.  Moreover,  the  training 
which  such  supposedly  "well-educated"  children 
customarily  receive,  and  which  is  mainly  directed 
toward  tlie  acquisition  of  good  manners,  stifles  all 
inclination  toward  healthy  self-activity  and  often 
turns  them  into  little  hypocrites  and  dissemblers. 
Hence  it  will  be  seen  that  the  pedagogic  interest 
attaching  to  the  only  child  is  worthy  of  much 
special  consideration. 

Friedjung,  in  the  course  of  an  investigation  re- 
garding the  bodily  and  mental  development  of 
the  school  children  in  Vienna,  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  neuroses  occurred  with  relative  fre- 
quency in  those  who  had  no  brothers  or  sisters. 
In  directing  the  attention  of  neurologists,  parents 
and  teachers  to  this  fact,  he  exprest  the  opinion 
that  the  very  reasons  which  prompted  a  couple  to 
have  only  one  child  were  the  ones  which  were  re- 
sponsible for  the  unsatisfactory  educational  result 


THE    CHILDREN  295 

usually  obtained  in  an  only  child.  There  can, 
above  all,  be  no  doubt  that  the  only  child  is  far 
more  frequently  neuropathically  tainted  than  the 
offspring  of  parents  with  numerous  children.  The 
only  child  is  partly  the  product  of  hyperculture, 
and  its  manifestations  of  degeneracy  are  partly 
the  product  of  material  want.  That  riches  and 
marital  fertility  usually  occupy  an  inverse  rela- 
tionship to  each  other  is  a  saying  that  dates  from 
ancient  times.  Apriori,  and  according  to  the  Mal- 
thusian  theory  of  population,  we  should  expect 
that  the  number  of  children  would  increase  as 
prosperity  increased  and  would  decrease  as  mate- 
rial want  became  more  pronounced.  But  in  com- 
mon experience  it  would  seem  that  the  number  of 
children  is  governed  far  less  by  the  question, 
which  Malthus  has  placed  in  the  foreground,  of 
the  means  of  support,  than  by  consideration  of 
other  sorts.  Among  these  considerations,  neuro- 
pathic states  of  the  parents  certainly  occupy  a 
prominent  place.  These  states  may  be  caused  by 
over-satiation  and  relaxation,  resulting  from  luxu- 
rious or  extravagant  living,  or  they  may  be  the 
product  of  an  excessive  consumption  of  nerve 
energy,    entailed    by   the    struggle    for    existence. 


296  CHILD    TRAINING 

However  produced,  neuropathic  states  of  the  par- 
ents render  childlessness,  or  at  least  the  greatest 
possible  restriction  of  natural  conjugal  fertility, 
desirable. 

The  only  child  is  often  hereditarily  tainted, 
and  when  the  mother  during  her  pregnancy  is 
subjected  to  periods  of  excitement,  or  is  much 
troubled  by  fears  and  worry,  as  hysterical  or 
neuropathic  women  so  often  are,  further  injurious 
influences  are  added,  which  from  the  very  begin- 
ning are  likely  to  lend  a  psychopathic  character 
to  the  hereditary  taint.  Notwithstanding  all 
this,  we  must  admit  that  even  an  only 
child  may  come  into  the  world  in  a  perfectly 
normal  state,  and,  under  favorable  conditions,  may 
develop  in  a  normal  way  both  physically  and 
mentally.  Fortunately,  too,  there  exist  healthy 
parents,  who,  remaining  contented  with  one  child, 
are  able  to  avoid  those  errors  of  training  which 
usually  are  so  pernicious  in  similar  cases.  As  a 
rule,  two  factors  cooperate  sooner  or  later  to 
render  the  only  child  an  object  of  worry  for 
parents  and  educators.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
neuropathic  taint,  the  congenital  inferiority  of 
brain    and    nervous    system;    the    second,    which 


THE    CHILDREN  297 

exerts  its  influence  even  in  the  absence  of  any 
taint,  and  without  which  the  bodily  and  mental 
development  of  the  child  may  be  a  perfectly  nor- 
mal one,  is  the  injudiciousness  of  parents  or  people 
to  whose  care  the  child  is  entrusted.  As  we  have 
seen,  many  children  are  exposed  to  neglect  because 
their  parents  are  addicted  to  drink  and  do  not 
concern  themselves  about  them,  or  because  their 
parents  lack  the  means  to  give  them  the  necessary 
care  and  attention.  In  the  only  child  however,  it 
is  usually  not  neglect  but  over-solicitude  which  im- 
plants the  seed  for  pathological  states.  The  only 
child  is  the  object  of  constant  and  superfluous 
concern;  it  is  enveloped  in  an  exaggerated  tender- 
ness. The  parents  are  always  occupied  in  fulfil- 
ing  its  every  wish;  they  are  in  despair  when  its 
screams  give  evidence  of  displeasure;  they  are 
blind  to  its  obstinacy  and  other  faults,  they  marvel 
at  the  most  insignificant  output  of  its  mental  life 
as  an  expression  of  genius,  they  make  of  the  child 
an  object  of  worship,  and  expose  it  to  the  admir- 
ation of  friends  and  acquaintances  on  every  pos- 
sible occasion.  They  live  in  a  state  of  constant 
fear  that  something  may  happen  to  their  child  cr 
that  something  they  consider  essential  to  its  well- 


298  CHILD    TRAINING 

being  may  have  been  overlooked.     Small  wonder, 
under  these  circumstances,  if  the  only  child  looks 
upon  itself  very  early  as  the  center  of  the  uni- 
verse, makes  inordinate  demands  upon  every  one, 
becomes  unmeasurably   egotistic   and   has  violent 
outbursts  of  anger  when  its  demands  are  refused 
or  its  desires   opposed.       Education,    of    course,- 
should  effect  at  least  the  control  of  one's  impulses 
and  passions,  but  the  educational  result  of  such 
coddling  and  spoiling  as  we  have  just  described  is 
to  give  the  child's  passions  and  faults  unbridled 
sway  over  it.     It  becomes  moody,  undecided,  in- 
capable of  persistent  work.     Never  having  learned 
to  bend  its  own  will  to  that  of  others,  it  meets 
with  opposition  at  every  turn,  loses  all  desire  to 
learn,    tires   rapidly    after    all    bodily    or   mental 
exertion,  and  in  consequence  of  its  entire  lack  of 
self-control,   is   soon   in    a   condition    which    must 
be  looked  upon  as  the  border-line  between  health 
and    disease.     Usually,    also,    as    a   result    of    the 
pampering,  the  bodily  resistance  of  the  child  be- 
comes lowered  and  this  is  the  more  evident  the 
more  the  foolish  parents  have  endeavored  to  guard 
their  darling  against  every  breath  of  air  and  have 
made  the  choice  of  its  food  and  drink  subservient 


THE    CHILDREN  299 

to  its  own  wishes,  instead  of  applying  the  prin- 
ciples of  rational  nourishment. 

Even  when  the  child  has  suffered  through  the 
exaggerated  forebearance  and  indecision  of  the 
parents,  the  occurrence  of  all  the  manifestations 
which  we  have  mentioned  is  inevitable,  but  when 
to  these  influences  there  is  added  that  of  neuro- 
pathic taint,  the  child  governed  solely  by  the  dic- 
tates of  its  own  impulses  will  be  entirely  unable 
to  adapt  itself  to  its  environment  and  will  be  in 
constant  conflict  with  every  one  into  contact  with 
whom  the  stern  realities  of  life  bring  it.  Where 
no  hereditary  taint  exists,  eccentricities  which 
have  been  acquired  through  erroneous  training 
can  be  partly  effaced  through  association  with 
other  children,  but  where  inherited  and  acquired 
neuropathic  influences  meet  in  one  individual,  the 
aggregation  of  those  afflictions  will  often  reduce 
the  child  to  such  a  state  that  it  can  not  be  prop- 
erly cared  for  outside  of  an  institution. 

Hence  we  see  how  the  principle  of  individual- 
ization may  be  exaggerated.  With  as  much  firm- 
ness as  we  use  in  applying  the  rule  that  every 
child  should  be  treated  in  accordance  with  its 
proper  personality  must  we  recognize  the  wrong 


300  CHILD    TRAINING 

involved  in  not  counteracting  the  development  of 
disordered  tendencies.  Under  all  circumstances 
must  such  development  be  supprest;  where  this  is 
not  done,  we  find  the  type  of  disorder  encountered 
so  frequently  in  the  only  child.  It  may  not  be 
without  interest  to  recall  here  the  remark  of 
Andrew  Carnegie  in  his  well-known  book  ' '  Empire 
of  Business,"  that  it  must  be  considered  a  mis- 
fortune to  be  the  only  son  of  a  rich  man,  for  this 
only  son  never  learns  the  meaning  of  sincere 
arduous  work,  his  will  meets  no  opposition,  atten- 
tions are  showered  upon  him,  and  he  gradually 
acquires  a  state  of  exalted  self  appreciation  which 
unfits  him  for  the  demands  of  practical  life. 

The  pedagogic  principle  of  individualization 
does  not  mean  that  every  child  should  be  left  to 
develop  itself  unrestrictedly  in  conformity  with 
its  own  individuality,  but  that  the  individuality 
of  the  child  should  be  so  directed  that  it  may 
become  usefully  active.  Altho  the  son  of  the 
rich  man  does  not  become  a  burden  to  society, 
he  leads  an  existence  which  is  useless,  but  which, 
through  proper  training,  might  have  been  made 
valuable.  Whenever  a  sudden  change  for  the  bad 
in  his  financial  condition  takes  place,  and  he  is 


THE    CHILDREN  301 

forced  to  depend  upon  himself  for  his  support,  to 
carry  on  his  own  struggle  for  existence,  his  mis- 
fortune is  doubly  great  because  usually  the  pre- 
vious neglect  can  not  be  remedied  nor  the  errors 
of  training  rectified.  In  families  with  numerous 
children,  especially  those  in  modest  financial  cir- 
cumstances, the  same  danger  is  far  less  likely  to 
arise.  For  in  such  families,  while  individuality 
may  not  receive  proper  consideration,  the  exi- 
gencies of  persistent  activity  does  not  permit  dis- 
ordered whims  and  tendencies  to  spring  up  so 
easily  as  in  the  child  of  wealthy  parents. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  upon  intellectual 
development,  I  would  again  emphasize  certain 
important  points.  Briefly  stated,  prophylactic 
training,  in  all  its  endeavors,  must  not  lose  sight 
of  the  mutational  dependence  of  bodily  and  mental 
functions.  Whatever  favors  physical  development 
is  of  benefit  to  mental  growth.  Conversely,  every 
disorder  of  bodily  function,  more  particularly  of 
the  central  nervous  system,  also  reacts  unfavor- 
ably upon  psychic  activity.  The  causes  of  im- 
satisfactory  intellectual  development  may  there- 
fore, as  we  have  seen,  be  direct  ones,  which  exert 
an  immediate  influence  upon  the  mind  of  the  child 


302  CHILD    TRAINING 

through  wrong  methods  of  training,  or  indirect 
ones,  which  first  implicate  the  physical  state  of 
the  child  through  incorrect  diet,  insufficient  sleep 
and  other  baneful  influences,  and  thus  produce 
disorders  of  the  mental  processes.  Prophylaxis, 
however,  has  not  done  its  entire  duty  when  it  has 
guarded  the  child  against  physical  or  mental  harm. 
When  harmful  influences  have  been  present  since 
birth,  or  have  been  active  since  earliest  childhood, 
it  has  still  another  task  before  it.  In  such  in- 
stances it  must  not  only  aim  to  check  the  progress 
of  these  influences  but  must  place  the  child  under 
new  conditions  of  life  and  must  adapt  the  methods 
of  instruction  and  training  to  its  individual 
peculiarities  in  accordance  with  Montessori's  suc- 
cessful example,  so  that  whatever  part  of  the 
child's  mentality  remains  to  be  rescued  may  be 
rescued.  The  vitalizing  principle  of  the  Montes- 
sori  Method  is  distinguished  precisely  by  the  fact 
that  it  attaches  no  importance  to  the  mechanical 
acquirement  of  knowledge,  to  the  acquisition  of 
the  largest  possible  number  of  facts,  while  it  lays 
the  utmost  stress  upon  the  mental  assimilation  of 
facts  through  individual  research  and  discover3\ 
By  adhering  to  the  principle  of  conveying  to  the 


THE    CHILDREN  303 

child  no  knowledge  which  transgresses  the  limits 
of  its  understanding,  this  method  acts  not  only 
according  to  the  spirit  of  pedagogy,  based  upon 
true  physiological  psychology,  but  it  also  complies 
with  all  the  conditions  demanded  of  prophylactic 
training. 

D.   FORMATION   OF   THE   CHARACTER   AND  THE   WILL 

The  formation  of  the  character  and  the  will 
must  keep  pace  with  the  development  of  the  in- 
tellect. Of  what  avail  would  be  the  attainment 
of  even  a  large  sum  of  knowledge,  of  what  service 
the  power  of  precise  observation,  correct  thought 
and  judgment  if  these  were  not  accompanied  by 
the  ingrained  habit  of  governing  one's  conduct 
according  to  certain  definite  principles,  and  of 
carrying  out  with  all  energy  what  has  been  recog- 
nized as  right.  In  this  regard  the  omissions  of 
early  training  can  be  compensated  for  only  with 
difficulty  in  later  life.  Education,  therefore,  must 
enable  the  child  to  act  in  accordance  with  pre- 
cise motives  and  prevent  it  from  being  led  astray 
by  whims  or  momentary  moods.  Education  must 
enable  the  child  to  pursue  a  definite  aim  with 
resolution  and  perseverance.     This  is  doubly  nee- 


304  CHILD    TRAINING 

essary  in  a  time  like  the  present,  when  the 
struggle  for  existence  is  steadily  becoming  more 
difficult  and  demands  made  upon  the  efficiency 
of  each  individual  by  inordinate  competition,  are 
persistently  increasing. 

Therefore,  such  training  as  will  fortify  the  will 
and  strengthen  the  character,  constitutes  both  the 
keystone  and  the  turret  of  all  pedagogic  activity. 
Children  by  nature  are  pronounced  egotists.  This 
disposition  is  decidedly  purposeful,  as  it  serves 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  individual.  It  would, 
therefore,  be  entirely  wrong  to  endeavor  by  means 
of  educational  measures  to  suppress  or  eradicate 
the  self-love  which  nature  has  implanted  in  man. 
Egotism  in  itself  is  neither  to  be  commended  nor 
condemned.  Only  that  boundless  selfishness  which 
infringes  upon  the  rights  of  others  is  pernicious. 
It  is  this  type  of  egotism  which  must  be  counter- 
acted or,  rather,  as  Montessori  says,  must  be  re- 
cognized as  hurtful  by  the  child  itself.  Such 
recognition  will  bring  about  a  voluntary  sub- 
ordination of  selfish  interests  to  the  interests  of 
the  many,  and  the  obedience  obtained  in  this 
manner  is,  as  corroborated  by  Holmes,  of  far 
greater    moral     worth     than     discipline     secured 


THE    CHILDREN  305 

through  subjugation  of  the  will.  ''Breaking"  a 
child's  will,  accustoming  it  to  blind  obedience,  is 
certainly  a  convenient  means  of  training  in  so  far 
as  it  facilitates  discipline  in  the  school,  but  its 
result  is  most  harmful,  because  it  paralyzes  the 
will-power  and  produces  undecisiveness  which  pre- 
cludes any  initiative  and  which  requires  constant 
supervision.  Education's  aim  must  be  not  the 
enfeeblement,  but  the  reinforcement  of  the  will- 
power which  nature  has  given  the  child.  Then, 
too,  education  often  dispels  that  unnatural  ob- 
stinacy which  many  interpret  as  strength  of  will, 
but  which  is  actually  an  evidence  of  weakness  of 
will,  in  that  it  unfits  the  child  to  master  even  its 
own  self.  The  stronger  the  will,  the  greater  the 
self-control,  and  the  power  of  combating  depraved 
thoughts,  baser  passions  and  temptations  to 
wrongdoing. 

The  plasticity  and  impressionability  of  the 
child's  nature  permits  it  to  be  molded  by  educa- 
tional influences  into  a  form  which  increasing  age 
renders  more  and  more  fixt  and  unchangeable.  So 
long  as  its  power  of  judgment  is  lacking,  the 
child  has  a  strong  reverence  for  authority;  and  it 
is  for  this  reason,  as  will  presently  be  shown,  that 


306  '       CHILD    TRAINING 

educational  influences  cling  the  more  enduringly 
the  more  they  conform  to  the  tendencies  which 
the  child  already  possesses.  This  is  true  in  a 
good  sense  as  well  as  in  a  bad  sense.  Where  they 
are  opposed  by  the  child's  nature,  pernicious  in- 
fluences, as  well  as  ennobling  ones,  may  remain 
without  effect  for  a  long  time.  Finally,  however, 
in  consequence  of  its  respect  for  authority,  the 
child  succumbs  to  them.  Its  respect  for  authority 
renders  the  child  susceptible  in  a  high  degree  to 
suggestion. 

In  the  final  analysis  of  the  matter  the  child's  imi- 
tative instinct  is  dependent  upon  its  lack  of  dis- 
crimination through  which  it  is  led  to  attach 
greater  significance  to  the  words  and  the  acts  of 
grown  people  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  its 
confidence  in  them.  Religious  and  moral  influences 
become  effective  through  suggestion.  They  may 
be  of  great  value  for  character  formation  when 
exerted  in  the  right  way.  Above  all  such  in- 
fluences should  not  pervert  the  child's  nature  by 
implanting  in  it  the  idea  of  its  own  iniquity  in 
consequence  of  original  sin,  nor  arouse  in  the 
child's  mind  improper  incentives  for  praiseworthy 
conduct  through  promises  of  Heavenly  reward  or 


THE    CHILDREN  307 

threats  of  Divine  punishment.  Holmes,  as  I  have 
already  said,  takes  the  perfectly  correct  stand 
that  children  should  be  incited  to  act  morally 
through  the  satisfaction  they  will  derive  from 
doing  good  and  from  mastering  their  evil  thoughts, 
and  not  through  the  fear  of  punishment,  nor  the 
prospect  of  reward.  Such  morality,  uncovered 
and  independent  of  all  egotistical  motives,  cer- 
tainly is  of  far  greater  worth  than  the  enforced 
and  constrained  observance  of  moral  precepts. 
But  the  suggestions  which  continuously  spring 
forth  from  the  surroundings  of  the  child  may  also 
influence  its  character  formation  in  a  directly 
harmful  way.  It  certainly  is  clear  that  a  child's 
association  with  morally  delinquent  people  can 
not  be  productive  of  good.  Unfortunately,  as  we 
have  already  said,  the  parents  themselves  must 
often  be  classed  among  those  who  exert  a  dele- 
terious influence  upon  children.  Moreover,  many 
parents  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  patience 
necessary  for  properly  occupying  themselves  with 
their  children.  It  is  wise  for  such  parents  to 
place  their  children  in  charge  of  other  people, 
but  it  is  reprehensible  to  take  this  step,  as  is  so 
often  done,  without  first  carefully  scrutinizing  the 


/ 


308  CHILD    TRAINING 

character  of  those  to  wliom  the  care  of  the  chil- 
dren is  entrusted. 

An  uncurbed  fantasy,  such  as  we  often  en- 
counter in  hysterical  individuals,  is  one  of  the 
greatest  impediments  to  the  development  of  char- 
acter. Juvenile  literature  abounds  with  narrations 
that  tend  toward  unhealthy  stimulations  of  the 
child's  imagination.  In  this  category  belong  those 
Indian  adventures  and  detective  stories,  so  widely 
read  and  so  replete  with  coarseness,  which  paint 
the  most  sanguinary  and  revolting  occurrences  in 
lurid  colors  and  do  not  even  stop  at  descriptions 
of  indecencies  and  obscenities.  For  young  girls 
novels  which  are  based  upon  morbid  sentimental- 
ity, and  in  which  an  affected  emotional  tender- 
ness is  often  the  veil  for  lust  and  frivolity,  are 
especially  harmful.  Under  the  influences  of  such 
literature,  it  is  not  unusual  for  little  boys  to  be 
directly  misled  by  older  girls,  and  to  enter  upon 
relations  which  far  transgress  all  bounds  of  chil- 
dren's friendship.  Similarly  do  the  adulatory 
relations  existing  between  young  girls  and  be- 
tween young  men,  which  not  infrequently  bear  the 
stamp  of  homosexuality,  often  originate  from  un- 
healthy literature.     The  pernicious  influence  which 


THE    CHILDREN  309 

even  newspaper  reading  may  have  upon  very 
young  children  is  shown  by  the  occurrence  of 
child  suicide  as  a  direct  result  of  newspaper  re- 
ports of  similar  occurrences,  and  by  the  fact  that 
games  arranged  in  imitation  of  executions  re- 
ported in  newspapers  have  been  the  direct  cause 
of  death  for  not  a  few  children.  Children  who 
are  nearing  the  period  of  sexual  development,  or 
who  have  already  reached  the  age  of  puberty,  are 
not  infrequently  prematurely  excited  by  sensa- 
tional reports  of  unmoral  occurrences  and  thereby 
are  led  to  abuse  themselves  or  to  other  erotic 
aberrations.  Theatrical  productions  or  art  exhi- 
bitions, while  perfectly  proper  in  themselves,  may 
be  improper  for  young  children  and  produce  the 
same  untoward  results.  For  instance,  an  exhi- 
bition of  the  nude  in  painting  or  statuary  may  be 
ever  so  harmless — in  fact,  it  may  be  esthetically 
of  the  greatest  interest  for  persons  whose  character 
is  morally  fixt;  but  for  immature  children  such 
exposition  certainly  has  its  improprieties  and 
dangerous  possibilities. 

The  character  formation  of  nervous  children  is 
an  especially  difficult  problem  for  all  educators, 
and  is  entirely  beyond  the  power  of  those  who 


310  CHILD    TRAINING 

have  no  understanding  of  the  peculiarities  of  the 
nervous  child  and  who,  therefore,  are  likely  to 
believe  they  can  break  its  supposed  obstinacy  by 
opposition  and  force.  Such  Draconian  methods 
will  foster  the  growth  of  the  child's  nervousness 
until,  upon  arriving  at  a  proper  school  age,  it 
bears  the  marks  of  decided  mental  abnormality. 
On  the  other  hand,  a  too  considerate  training,  one 
which  at  all  times  and  in  all  circumstances  allows 
the  child  full  liberty  to  do  as  it  pleases,  and  per- 
mits its  character  to  develop  under  the  influence 
of  those  aceidentalities  which  are  the  products  of 
its  neurotic  disposition,  can  only  be  calamitous. 
Even  the  discipline  of  the  school  can  exert  little 
wholesome  influence  upon  the  nervous  child,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  may  even  increase  its  ner- 
vousness. Children  of  the  type  we  are  now  dis- 
cussing usually  have  accustomed  themselves  to 
stray,  without  law  or  order,  from  one  subject  to 
another,  and,  therefore,  such  school  discipline  as 
utterly  disregards  their  condition  is  felt  by  thera 
as  an  unbearable  restraint.  Nervous  children  must 
receive  individual  care  and  attention,  directed  to- 
ward the  development  of  the  intellect  as  well  as 
toward  the   training  of  will-power  and   force   of 


THE    CHILDREN  311 

character.  Therapeutic  suggestion  will  be  found 
of  great  help  in  training  the  nervous  child.  In 
the  chapter  upon  intellectual  development  we  have 
already  seen  that  in  order  to  instil  in  the  child 
the  conviction  that  it  can  do  a  thing  if  it  will, 
all  we  need  do  sometimes  is  to  strengthen  its 
confidence  in  itself.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
successful  training  of  wild  animals  is  based  on 
the  fact  that  the  brutes  do  not  know  their  own 
strength  and,  therefore,  fear  their  trainer.  Once 
he  has  been  defeated,  the  trainer's  power  and 
authority  are  gone.  Nervous  children,  like  all 
other  neurotics,  are  dominated  by  a  belief  in  their 
own  inability.  Hence  the  paralyses,  abnormal  sen- 
sory disturbances  and  other  functional  nervous 
disorders  which  characterize  the  neuroses  and  in 
which  no  organic  basis  is  discoverable.  If,  then, 
it  is  possible,  by  assuring  and  persuading  them 
of  their  potency  to  encourage  nervous  children 
to  better  intellectual  accomplishments,  then  the 
same  tactics  must  also  lead  to  a  strengthening  of 
their  will-power.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  many 
observers  have  found  that  nervous  children  may 
be  freed  from  many  vices,  such  as  masturbation, 
laziness,  lying,  abnormal  fear,  nail  biting,  various 


312  CHILD    TRAINING 

tics,  etc.,  l)y  psychotherapy,  and  that  sleeplessness 
and  nocturnal  restlessness,  so  prejudicial  to  their 
health  and  development,  may  be  relieved  by  the 
same  means. 

Pedagogy  to-day  has  other  tasks  than  in  the 
"good  old  times."  It  must  accomplish  more  be- 
cause the  struggle  for  existence  has  signally  aug- 
mented the  demands  made  upon  each  individual. 
But,  the  training  which  is  necessary  to  produce 
force  of  will  and  determination  of  character  is 
to-day  much  more  difficult,  and  this  is  so  because 
nervousness  and  the  diminution  of  energy  which 
accompanies  it,  are  increasing  in  an  appalling 
measure.  That  the  continued  spread  of  nervous 
disorder  is  to  be  attributed  in  part  to  the  gigan- 
tic and  rapid  advance  which  culture  is  making 
can  hardly  be  doubted.  Let  us  not  forget  that 
the  world  has  made  greater  strides  during  the 
last  five  decades  than  during  the  preceding  five 
centuries,  and  that  these  advances  have  been 
accompanied  by  correspondingly  great  changes  in 
the  conditions  of  human  life.  It  is  human  nature 
to  desire  to  remain  in  an  accustomed  rut,  to  carry 
out  occupational  duties  according  to  the  manner 
in  which  one  has  been  taught.  Hence  the  aversion 


THE    CHILDREN  313 

to  new  ideas,  the  misoneism  which  is  part  of  every 
individual.  Formerly  this  tendency  could  be 
followed  without  difficulty.  Now  it  is  no  longer 
possible  to  follow  it.  Man  to-day  must  struggle 
unceasingly  against  inherited  habits  and  trans- 
mitted notions  which  are  no  longer  adapted  to 
the  spirit  of  the  times.  The  necessity  for  earning 
his  bread  obliges  him  constantly  to  unlearn  and 
to  learn  anew,  in  order  not  to  be  outstript  by  his 
competitors.  This  constant  and  rapid  change 
demands  an  adaptability  and  requires  a  brain 
efficiency  which  many  do  not  possess.  The  lag- 
gards in  the  march  of  progress  become  nervous, 
finally  break  down  and  transmit  a  deficient  ner- 
vous system  to  their  children,  who  are  then  doubly 
hampered  since  they  are  not  able  to  comply  even 
with  ordinary  demands,  let  alone  those  which  the 
augmented  stress  of  contest  makes  upon  them. 

Thus  competition,  the  vitalizing  element  of 
progress,  also  has  its  shadows  represented,  not 
only  by  nervousness  and  an  enfeeblement  of  will- 
power, but  also  by  the  increasing  damage  to 
character  development  caused  by  unhealthy  ri- 
valry. It  is  precisely  because  one's  principles 
are  recast   with  changed   conditions   of  life   that 


314  CHILD    TRAINING 

action  in  conformity  with  well-defined  principles 
becomes  more  and  more  diffienlt.  Beliefs  that  oiir 
forefathers  considered  sacred  and  inviolal)le  to- 
day are  looked  upon  as  evidences  of  prejudice, 
narrow-mindedness  and  bigotry.  The  strict  sense 
of  duty  and  responsibility  possest  by  our  fathers 
wanes  more  and  more  in  an  era  which  bears  the 
stamp  of  unscrupulousness.  Adaptation  to  the 
modern  spirit  often  means  nothing  less  than  a 
rupture  with  those  transmitted  ideas  of  honor 
which  are  incompatible  with  the  rapid  and  easy 
acquirement  of  wealth.  Consequently,  the  strug- 
gle for  existence  develops  not  only  good  and 
useful  qualities,  produces  not  only  the  highest 
efficiency,  but  also  calls  into  activity  those  de- 
precable  instincts  which  lie  dormant  in  human 
nature. 

Yet,  when  all  has  been  said,  the  spirit  of  the 
times  simply  reflects  the  ideas  of  certain  individ- 
uals who  have  known  how  to  gain  a  certain  ascen- 
dency over  their  fellow  beings,  "When  other  in- 
dividuals, of  a  future  generation,  will  have  in- 
fluenced their  fellow  beings  in  a  contrary  direc- 
tion, the  spirit  of  the  times  will  favor  new  ideals. 
Pedagogy,  however,  can  not  shirk  the  task  which 


THE    CHILDREN  315 

the  existing  complicated  conditions  of  life  have 
forced  upon  it — the  task  so  to  simplify  the  in- 
structional methods  of  developing  the  intellect 
and  so  to  train  the  coming  generation  that  the 
latter  will  be  able  to  adapt  itself  to  the  changing 
conditions  without  sacrificing  the  principles  that 
form  the  basis  of  true  character  formation. 
Especially  should  this  generation  learn  to  appre- 
ciate work  as  one  factor  which  lends  true  interest 
to  life,  whether  fate  has  placed  the  individual  in 
a  higher  or  lower  sphere  of  activity.  The  feebly 
endowed  and  the  nervous  can  still  fill  their  places 
in  life  provided  pedagogy  will  have  due  consider- 
ation for  their  lowered  powers  of  nerve  resist- 
ance, and  provided  that  they  be  burdened  with 
comparatively  lesser  responsibilities  in  their  later 
occupational  activities. 

One  thing  more  should  be  added.  The  free 
choice  of  a  life-pursuit  is  an  integral  part  of 
prophylactic  training.  The  augmenting  neuras- 
thenia of  the  present  time  is  certainly  the  result 
in  part  of  the  conflict  between  inclination  and 
occupational  activity.  I  need  only  point  to  the 
overcrowding  of  all  so-called  "academic"  pur- 
suits.   A  marked  disinclination  for  ordinary  work 


316  CHILD    TRAINING 

seems  to-day  to  be  a  characteristic  of  our  much- 
vaunted  cultural  progress.  Not  for  a  moment 
would  I  deprecate  the  endeavor  to  better  one's 
social  position,  but  this  very  aim  has  been  the 
undoing  of  many  who  have  sacrificed  their  health 
to  satisfy  their  ambition.  Foolish  parents  are 
often  at  fault  when  their  children  become  mental 
cripples.  The  practise  of  having  but  two  chil- 
dren, which  is  becoming  more  and  more  general 
and  which  permits  greater  care  and  attention  to 
be  given  to  the  bringing  up  of  each  child,  un- 
doubtedly harmonizes  with  the  desire  to  rise  to  a 
higher  social  level.  The  parents  w^ant  their  chil- 
dren to  be  better  off  in  the  world  than  they  them- 
selves have  been;  they  would  perforce  have  them 
study  for  professional  careers,  partly  on  account 
of  the  greater  ease  and  earning  facility  supposed 
to  be  attributes  of  professional  life.  But  how 
often  is  all  the  sacrifice  of  time,  money,  and  effort 
in  vain !  How  often  does  it  become  evident,  only 
too  late,  that  the  acquirement  of  a  scientific  edu- 
cation makes  mental  cripples  of  those  who  are  not 
fitted  for  it !  How  many  a  person  of  average 
talent  could  have  become  a  useful  member  of 
society  had  he  not  allowed  false  ambition  to  force 


THE    CHILDREN  317 

him  into  a  career  entirely  unsuited  to  his  quali- 
fications ! 

The  purposefulness  which  rules  in  nature  is 
shown  again  by  the  harmony  which  exists  be- 
tween mental  endowment  and  the  various  branches 
of  occupational  activity.  The  ordinary  farm 
worker  or  factory  hand  who  conscientiously  fulfils 
the  duties  devolving  upon  him  is  of  far  greater 
worth  to  human  civilization,  than  the  physician, 
lawyer,  or  teacher  who  is  not  adapted  to  his  calling, 
and  who  breaks  down  under  the  stress  of  it. 

Individualization  is,  therefore,  quite  as  impor- 
tant in  the  selection  of  an  occupation,  especially 
when  it  requires  special  endowments,  as  is  the 
actual  course  of  instruction  and  training.  We 
must  prevent  the  joy  in  living  from  being  des- 
troyed by  a  pursuit  which  does  not  permit  one's 
proper  individuality  to  unfold. 


PART    FIFTH 

THERAPEUTIC    TRAINING 

I.     THE    EDUCABLE 

A.  Causal  Treatment 

We  have  seen  that  certain  forms  of  mental 
weakness  are  etiologically  dependent  upon  incur- 
able defects  of  the  brain,  while  others  are  pro- 
duced by  curable  bodily  states.  In  connection  with 
this  let  us  again  recall  that  state  which  is  char- 
acterized by  an  inability  to  concentrate  the  atten- 
tion upon  any  one  subject  for  a  length  of  time 
and  which  is  so  often  met  with  as  a  result  of 
nasal  obstruction.  Pages  might  be  filled  with 
case  reports,  interesting  to  both  pedagogs  and 
physicians,  which  illustrate  the  improvement  that 
almost  inevitably  takes  place  in  cases  of  aprosexia 
after  the  cause,  the  obstruction  to  nasal  breath- 
ing, has  been  removed  by  means  of  a  harmless 

operative  intervention.     As  a  result  of  the   free 

319 


320  CHILD    TRAINING 

nasal  respiration  thus  established,  the  speech 
gradually  improves,  the  mouth  can  be  kept  closed, 
the  face  loses  its  stupid  and  relaxed  expression, 
the  hearing,  when  it  has  been  affected,  becomes 
better,  in  consequence  of  the  re-established  per- 
meability of  the  Eustachian  tubes  to  the  passage 
of  air,  the  deep  breathing  which  is  made  possible 
produces  a  favorable  change  in  the  entire  meta- 
bolism, and,  what  here  concerns  us  most,  the 
child,  having  been  relieved  of  its  physical  dis- 
order, loses  its  dreamy,  inattentive  state  and  again 
becomes  interested  in  mental  work. 

The  condition  of  aprosexia,  however,  is  not 
always  caused  by  adenoid  vegetations  or  other 
nasal  obstruction.  It  may  be  due  to  actual  im- 
becility, and  in  that  case  the  excrescences  in  the 
naso-pharynx  constitute  merely  an  associated, 
more  or  less  frequently  occurring  condition.  Thus, 
for  example,  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  the 
Mongoloid  idiots,  almost  without  exception,  suffer 
from  the  presence  of  adenoid  vegetations.  On 
account  of  ignorance  of  this  fact  it  was  believed 
for  a  long  time  that  the  dependence  of  aprosexia 
upon  obstruction  to  nasal  respiration  constituted 
an  invariable  rule.     Consequently  it  was  no  more 


SYMPTOMATIC  TREATMENT     337 

from  it  something  which  with  the  best  of  will  the 
child  can  not  give,  it  is  an  injustice  of  the  greatest 
kind.  Even  where  actual  defects  of  character 
require  correction,  corporal  punishment  is  likely 
to  do  harm  instead  of  good.  The  confidence  of 
children  can  be  won  more  easily  through  kindness 
than  through  severity,  and  all  sense  of  honor  may 
well  be  stifled  through  the  infliction  of  physical 
pain.  Nervous  and  sensitive  children  may  be- 
come so  excited  because  of  maltreatment  that  they 
will  attempt  to  take  their  own  lives;  on  the  other 
hand,  obtuse  children  either  will  not  be  influenced 
by  corporal  punishment  or  will  be  stirred  to  the 
most  violent  anger  and  brutal  passion. 

Finally,  we  must  remember  that  the  production 
and  endurance  of  physical  pain  are  closely  con- 
nected with  the  most  deplorable  manifestations  of 
sexual  degeneracy  (Sadism  and  Masochism),  and 
that  corporal  punishment  occasionally  is  provoc- 
ative of  masturbatory  habits.  Rousseau  in  his 
"Emile"  does  not  suppress  the  confession  that 
the  onanistic  aberrations  of  his  youth  were  begun 
in  consequence  of  blows  upon  the  buttocks. 

In  view  of  all  these  facts,  it  is  perfectly  clear 
that  corporal  punishment  in  the  end  will  do  more 


338  CHILD    TRAINING 

harm  than  good,  and  all  rational  physicians  and 
teachers  will  be  found  opposed  to  its  use  as  a 
means  of  training  normal  children,  to  say  nothing 
of  the  feeble-minded. 

Close  study  of  their  peculiarities  will  always 
disclose  some  other  means  of  influencing  obstrep- 
erous and  feeble-minded  children .  Thus,  De 
Moor  recommends  rest  in  bed  after  states  of 
excitement.  Seguin  has  given  us  a  striking 
example  of  results,  at  first  seemingly  impossible, 
but  finally  brought  about  through  persistent, 
patient  endeavor.  In  his  "Traitement"  he  tells 
us  how  he  obtained  ultimate  control  over  a  very 
excited,  continuously  restless  idiot,  by  seating 
himself  opposite  the  boy,  holding  the  child's  legs 
between  his  own  knees  and  with  one  hand  grasp- 
ing the  boy's  hands,  and  maintaining  this  position 
for  five  weeks,  except  the  time  devoted  to  eating 
and  sleeping.  Whether  Seguin  might  have 
achieved  the  same  result  in  a  shorter  time  and 
more  easily  by  means  of  persuasion  and  sugges- 
tion must  remain  a  matter  of  conjecture.  Wliile 
it  is  true  that  psychotherapy  is  a  valuable  aid  in 
combating  certain  vices  and  bad  habits  of  chil- 
dren, its  use  will  always  be  confined  to  educable 


SYMPTOMATIC  TREATMENT      339 

children  because  the  existence  of  a  state  of 
dementia  or  outspoken  psychosis  of  any  kind  will 
render  impossible  the  establishment  of  the  rap- 
port which  is  an  absolute  requisite  in  treatment 
by  suggestion.  Emphasis  must  be  laid  on  the 
fact  that  psychotherapy  and,  more  particularly, 
the  use  of  hypnosis,  are  in  the  province  of  the 
physician  alone.  Under  no  circumstances  should 
the  pedagog  undertake  psychotherapeutic  or  hyp- 
notic experiments,  unless  he  has  had  a  profession- 
al medical  training  in  addition  to  his  pedagogic 
experience.  Heller  is  right  when  he  expresses 
sharp  disapproval  of  the  action  of  a  German 
association  of  teachers  a  few  years  ago  in  adopt- 
ing the  following  resolutions: 

1.  An  intimate  knowledge  of  suggestion, 
including  hypnotism,  is  of  incalculable  value 
for  the  teacher  and  educator. 

2.  It  enables  him  better  and  more  easily 
to  fulfil  his  difficult  task  of  instruction  and 
training. 

3.  A  practical  use  of  suggestion  will  often 
nip  in  the  bud  faults  and  bad  habits  which 
otherwise  might  lead  to  disorders  of  body 
and  mind. 


340  CHILD    TRAINING 

4.  For  these  reasons  the  study  of  this 
branch  of  practical  psychology  is  to  be  ad- 
vocated. 
These  resolutions  are  in  direct  opposition  to 
the  best  interests  of  the  teaching  profession.  A 
theoretical  knowledge  of  psychotherapy,  as  I 
have  presented  it  in  my  book,  certainly  is  of  great 
value  for  every  pedagog  and  for  every  cultured 
person.  But  where  its  practical  application  is 
concerned  the  teacher's  motto  if  he  would  not 
endanger  his  entire  authority,  should  be  "hands 
off."  This  authority  is  of  even  greater  import- 
ance in  training  weak-minded  children  than  in 
educating  normal  ones.  The  belief  that  a  pedagog 
of  proved  efficiency  in  the  education  of  normal 
children  must,  as  a  matter  of  course,  be  as  suc- 
cessful in  training  defective  children,  is  one  which 
is  not  upheld  by  the  facts  of  experience.  It  is 
most  astonishing  what  perspicacity  the  weak- 
minded  often  possess  for  the  faults  of  'those  about 
them,  and  an  educator  who  lays  himself  open  to 
the  just  criticism  of  his  wards  will  lose  and  never 
regain  his  influence  over  them.  Experience 
teaches  that  those  educators  who  meet  their  pupils 
with  quiet  determination  and  unrestricted  author- 


SYMPTOMATIC  TREATMENT     341 

ity  will  most  easily  win  their  affection  and 
confidence.  Even  under  such  favorable  circum- 
stances the  discipline  of  feeble-minded  children  is 
most  difficult,  and  if  the  psychotherapeutic  at- 
tempts of  the  teacher  fail,  as  they  most  certainly 
will,  he  must  blame  only  himself  for  the  incidental 
loss  of  authority,  which  is  as  inevitable  as  it  will 
be  permanent. 

Still  another  point  which  does  not  receive  the 
consideration  it  merits  from  many  pedagogs  is 
worthy  of  attention.  More  than  twenty  years  ago 
stress  was  laid  by  Koch  upon  the  peculiar  perio- 
dicity with  which  the  mental  development  of  ab- 
normal children  takes  place,  a  fact  that  has  been 
corroborated  by  many  observers  since.  This 
periodicity  is  characterized  by  steady  mental 
growth  during  a  short  period,  perhaps  only  for  a 
few  weeks,  followed  by  a  shorter  or  longer  de- 
velopmental abeyance.  Then  there  ensues  an  alter- 
nation of  productive  and  unproductive  periods, 
until  mental  development  reaches  a  stage  beyond 
which  no  further  spontaneous  progress  is  possible. 
Sometimes  this  mental  periodicity  is  contingent 
upon  physical  development,  sometimes  it  is  not. 
Rhachitic    children,    for    instance,    often    remain 


342  CHILD    TRAINING 

backward,  not  only  physically  but  also  mentally. 
Such  developmental  inhibition,  whether  physical 
or  mental,  may  be  overcome  in  many  instances  by 
substituting  better  conditions  of  life  (more 
nutritious  food,  more  sanitary  dwellings,  etc.)  for 
the  existing  ones.  That  this  is  so  is  shown  by  the 
good  results  obtained  by  placing  rhachitie  chil- 
dren in  colonies,  country  homes,  and  similar  wel- 
fare centers.  The  astonishing  successes  which  are 
often  noted  in  feeble-minded  rhachitie  children 
after  a  relatively  sliort  institutional  treatment 
may  also  be  due  in  part  to  improved  hygienic 
surroundings. 

In  many  Mongoloid  children  we  also  encounter 
a  development  in  stages,  of  both  body  and  mind, 
and  if  that  condition  exists  the  children  may, 
when  subjected  to  thyroid  medication,  come  out 
of  the  deepest  dementia  and  remain  afflicted  only 
by  a  mild  degree  of  imbecility.  But,  conditions 
are  not  always  so  favorable.  Often  the  physical 
state  of  these  children  improves  materially,  but 
the  betterment  is  unaccompanied  by  even  an  ap- 
proximate amelioration  in  the  mental  develop- 
ment. In  such  cases  the  favorable  change  in  the 
bodily  state  is  likely  lo  U'ud  parents  and  teachers 


SYMPTOMATIC    TREATMENT  343 

to  cling  to  a  hope  of  spontaneous  mental  improve- 
ment and  consequently  to  neglect  proper  remedial 
steps  so  long  that  the  deterioration  will  reach  a 
point  where  such  self-deception  is  no  longer  pos- 
sible. Unfortunately,  this  passive  expectation 
causes  the  loss  of  valuable  years  which,  as  I  have 
previously  stated,  can  not  be  compensated  for 
even  if  later  proper  remedial  pedagogic  treatment 
be  carried  out.  I  have  no  doubt  that  in  many 
of  these  children  the  periodicity  in  development 
may  be  transformed  into  a  continuous  develop- 
ment, provided  the  condition  be  recognized  in 
time. 

Here  again  arises  the  need  for  an  admonition 
of  the  urgent  necessity  for  harmonious  coopera- 
tion between  physician  and  pedagog.  Children 
who  are  slightly  mentally  deficient  need  not  be 
deprived  of  a  public  school  training  if,  by  means 
of  special  auxiliary  classes,  consideration  be  given 
to  their  limited  qualifications.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  therapeutic  training  of  the  lower  grade  psy- 
chopathic inferiorities,  of  the  educable  idiots,  as 
well  as  of  the  neurasthenic,  epileptic,  hysteric  or 
otherwise  neuropathically  tainted  children,  can 
be    satisfactorily     effected     only    in     institutions 


344  CHILD    TKAINING 

properly  adapted  to  this  purpose.  It  is  self- 
evident  that  such  institutions  and  their  entire 
plan  of  instruction  and  training  must  be  entirely 
different  from  those  for  the  uneducable. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  a  correct  diagnosis  of 
feeble-mindedness,  precise  investigation  must  be 
made  regarding  the  nature  of  the  training  which 
the  child  has  already  undergone.  When  this  is 
done,  we  will  often  find  that  many  of  its  pecu- 
liarities must  be  attributed  essentially  to  the 
completely  erroneous  treatment  it  has  received 
from  parents  or  teachers.  Culturable  germs  may 
have  been  present,  and  withered  simply  because 
they  have  been  overlooked.  On  the  other  hand 
there  may  be  discovered  infirmities  and  faults 
which  could  easily  have  been  smothered  in  the 
seed.  Consequently,  it  is  possible  that  upon  super- 
ficial examination  a  feeble-minded  child  may  give 
the  impression  of  a  low-grade  idiot  while  a  more 
careful  investigation  will  reveal  that  the  foes  to 
its  bodily  and  mental  health  are,  so  to  speak,  the 
weeds  which  in  consequence  of  neglect  have  over- 
grown and  throttled  the  culturable  seeds.  In 
consequence  of  erroneous  treatment,  then,  there 
may  be  stimulated  a  mental  state  of  inferiority 


SYMPTOMATIC    TREATMENT  345 

which  actually  does  not  exist,  and  which,  under 
proper  treatment,  will  soon  be  replaced  by  a 
favorable  expansion  of  the  mind.  But  it  is  also 
possible  that  a  training  which  has  been  directly 
aimed  at  the  inculcation  of  good  manners  and 
other  exteriorities  may  be  the  means  of  concealing 
a  marked  mental  defect  and  of  adroitly  convey- 
ing the  impression  of  an  intellectuality  which 
really  does  not  exist.  In  many  cases,  therefore,  it 
would  be  misleading  were  therapeutic  education 
limited  to  a  mere  continuance  and  completion  of 
the  training  inaugurated  in  the  parental  home. 
Only  in  exceptional  cases  is  such  continuance 
possible,  while  ordinarily  an  entirely  new  basis 
must  be  laid  for  the  remedial  teaching  which  the 
child  is  to  receive.  The  amount  of  difficulty  en- 
countered in  doing  this  is  a  direct  proportion  to 
the  injury  previously  done  to  the  child  by 
parental  maltreatment  or  neglect. 

Before  giving  our  attention  to  the  special 
duties  which  devolve  upon  the  person  who  under- 
takes the  therapeutic  training  of  feeble-minded 
children,  let  us  understand  why  it  is  that  the 
methods  of  training  and  instruction  usually  pro- 
ductive of  good   results   in   normal   children   are 


346  CHILD    TRAINING 

only  slightly  or  not  at  all  applicable  in  the 
training  of  abnormal  children.  We  have  pre- 
viously made  the  statement  that  the  feeble-minded 
are  individuals  who  have  failed  to  advance  beyond 
one  of  the  lower  stages  of  development.  A  mere 
comparison  of  a  feeble-minded  child  with  a  normal 
one  of  lower  age,  however,  does  not  suffice  to 
make  evident  the  difference  between  them.  The 
question  is  not  merely  one  of  unequal  intellectual 
development,  but  one  of  constitutional  difference 
in  mental  organization.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
the  education  of  the  feeble-minded  child  demands 
above  all  a  clear  appreciation  of  its  psychic  pecu- 
liarities and  that  the  principles  of  education  which 
are  of  proved  value  in  pedagogy  can  never  lead 
to  satisfactory  results  in  remedial  training.  Basic 
aims  of  all  training  of  the  feeble-minded  must 
be  the  arousal  of  the  attention,  the  development 
of  the  sensory  and  motor  faculties  and  of  the 
power  of  speech  and  the  constant  opposal  of  ab- 
normal impulses  and  habits.  Further  training 
must  be  guided  principally  in  three  directions. 
First,  a  certain  sum  of  definite  elementary 
knowledge  must  be  acquired,  and  just  as  the 
methods   employed    in    teaching    normal    children 


SYMPTOMATIC    TREATMENT  347 

must  be  of  the  most  intelligible  and  most  practical 
kind,  on  account  of  the  constant  increase  of 
instructional  matter,  so  this  elementary  knowledge 
must  be  conveyed  to  the  feeble-minded  with  the 
greatest  simplicity.  Next  the  complicated  expres- 
sions of  will  and  emotion  must  be  purposefully 
developed.  Finally,  through  the  acquirement  of 
mechanical  skill,  the  basis  must  be  laid  for  some 
future  profitable  employment. 

Let  us  cling  to  the  idea  that  the  task  of  thera- 
peutic training  is  to  draw  out  from  the  feeble- 
minded child  whatever  it  may  have  in  it  that 
can  be  developed.  As  a  matter  of  course  the 
results  achieved  by  remedial  pedagogy  will  differ 
materially.  The  aggregate  amount  of  training 
which  psychically  defective  children,  according  to 
the  degree  of  their  intelligence,  are  capable  of 
acquiring  occasionally  approaches,  but  as  a  rule 
remains  very  far  behind  the  normal.  Since  no 
abrupt  lines  of  demarcation  are  present,  and  one 
stage  of  development  blends  almost  indistinguish- 
ably  into  the  next  higher  one,  only  that  knowledge 
which  combines  the  principles  of  physiological  and 
of  pathological  development  will  enable  the  teacher 
to  measure  by  means  of  a  normal  standard  the 


348  CHILD    TRAINING 

progress  -which  has  been  obtained,  and  coinciden- 
tally  to  recognize  the  point  beyond  which  peda- 
gogic influence  can  not  pass. 

First,  then,  it  must  be  determined  whether  the 
educable  feeble-minded  are  to  be  instructed  in 
groups  or  individually.  Certainly,  individual  in- 
struction makes  the  greatest  demands  upon  the 
pupil.  During  the  entire  period  of  instruction 
it  exacts  a  maximal  concentration  of  attention 
under  which  normal  children  become  fatigued  and 
the  defective  ones,  of  course,  much  more  rapidly. 
This  in  turn  renders  the  interposition  of  fre- 
quent rest  periods  necessary,  and  as  a  result,  the 
continuity  of  instruction  suffers  constant  disturb- 
ing interruptions.  Individual  instruction,  there- 
fore, should  be  discarded  in  the  training  of  weak- 
minded  children,  as  it  necessitates  an  amount  of 
effort  which  the  already  feebly  resistant  child  can 
not  endure  without  injury.  Then,  too,  on  account 
of  the  necessary  social  training  it  carries  with  it, 
the  instruction  side  by  side  of  several  children  of 
about  the  same  grade  of  intelligence  is  to  be 
recommended.  In  a  small  group  of  children,  the 
individuality  of  each  may  receive  the  requisite 
consideration  while  no  single  one  is  kept  directly 


SYMPTOMATIC    TREATMENT  349 

and  constantly  occupied.  The  teacher,  through 
being  obliged  to  give  consideration  to  the  pecu- 
liarities of  different  pupils,  constantly  derives  new 
impressions  from  the  instruction  matter  and  is 
thus  led  to  stimulative  repetitions  which  must  be 
lacking  when  children  are  instructed  individually. 
Such  group  instruction  is  decidedly  more  success- 
ful than  the  usual  public  school  instruction,  be- 
cause the  latter,  on  account  of  the  large  number 
of  children  in  each  class,  is  scarcely  able  to  give 
consideration  to  the  individual  pupil. 

Experience  has  demonstrated  that,  on  account 
of  the  marked  tendency  to  fatigue  shown  by  all 
psychopathically  inferior  children,  no  single  in- 
struction period  in  any  one  subject  should  be 
extended  beyond  half  an  hour.  Longer  periods 
are  not  only  futile  but  also  may  cause  the  chil- 
dren to  suffer  nervous  breakdown.  The  rest 
periods  which  succeed  the  half-hour  instruction 
periods  should  not  be  devoted  to  physical  exer- 
cises, for,  as  has  already  been  said,  physical 
exertion  following  mental  work  does  not  relieve 
but  actually  increases  fatigue.  It  is  also  conceded 
that  the  hours  of  the  forenoon  should  be  devoted 
to  the  more  fatiguing  lessons,  while  the  afternoon 


350  CHILD    TRAINING 

periods  are  to  be  reserved  for  mechanical  pursuits 
in  which  frequent  repetition  and  practise  are 
main  considerations.  Home  work  should  not  be 
given  to  the  feeble-minded  children,  as  it  may 
in  some  way  restrict  their  opportunity  for  inde- 
pendent observation.  The  physiological  principle 
of  effort  and  repose  demands  of  the  normal  child 
brain  effort  preeminently  while  of  the  mentally 
defective  child  it  exacts  above  all  brain  rest. 
Even  for  healthy  pupils  home  work  implies 
mental  exertion  to  the  limit  of  their  capabilities, 
while  for  defective  pupils  such  work  actually  is 
directly  harmful.  We  should  not  forget  that 
overburdening  is  a  much  more  serious  matter  in 
defective  children  than  in  normal  ones.  The 
latter  under  favorable  conditions  soon  regain  their 
power  of  resistance,  but  the  enervation  of  the 
weaklings  grows  and  becomes  permanent. 

As  I  have  said  elsewhere,  mental  relaxation  and 
exercise  are  of  direct  educational  value.  The 
necessity  for  relaxation  and  exercise,  for  effort 
and  repose,  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  func- 
tional capability  of  every  organ  suffers  as  much 
through  inactivity  as  through  overactivity.  An 
organ    wastes    away    when    it    is   not   called    into 


SYMPTOMATIC    TREATMENT  351 

action  at  all,  just  as  surely  as  it  wastes  away 
when  excessive  demands  are  made  upon  it.  This 
is  quite  as  true  of  the  brain,  the  organ  of  the 
mind,  as  of  the  muscles  and  other  organs  of  the 
body. 

Relaxation  or  repose  of  an  organ  consists  in 
relieving  that  organ,  so  far  as  possible,  of  the 
part  which  it  takes  in  the  operations  of  the 
general  organism,  and  facilitating  those  activities 
of  which  it  can  not  be  relieved.  In  bringing  about 
relaxation  or  repose,  therefore,  we  endeavor  to  put 
the  entire  body  in  a  state  in  which  as  few  demands 
as  possible  will  be  made  upon  the  affected  organ, 
and  those  only  under  conditions  as  favorable  to 
that  organ  as  they  can  be  made.  By  exercise,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  understand  all  those  means 
which  will  cause  an  organ  to  accomplish  more 
than  previously,  the  increased  activity,  however, 
being  not  the  result  of  a  single  output  of  energy 
due  to  strong  stimuli,  but  an  evidence  of  per- 
manently augmented  effectiveness.  In  such  effect- 
iveness lies  the  difference  between  increased 
activity  due  to  stimulation  and  that  caused  by 
exercise  or  training.  A  sharp  dividing  line  does 
not  exist,  since  stimulation  of  an  organ  naturally 


352  CHILD    TRAINING 

will  cause  an  exercise  of  function.  Different 
individuals  react  differently  to  the  same  kind  of 
stimulation;  the  stimulus  which  is  physiological 
for  one  person  may  be  pathological  for  another. 
All  exercise  produces  fatigue  and  thus  necessitates 
recuperation.  When  recuperation  takes  place  in 
a  perfect  manner,  the  organ  exerted  becomes 
slightly  more  capable  than  it  was  at  first;  but  if 
recuperation  is  inadequate,  the  organ  is  weakened 
and  not  strengthened  through  exertion.  To  find 
the  happy  medium  of  exercise  regulated  according 
to  individual  requirements  is  a  task  which  the 
physician  can  accomplish  only  if  he  has  the 
proper  appreciation  of  the  patient's  varying 
powers  of  adjustment. 

Observation  should  constitute  the  nucleus  of  all 
instruction  of  the  feeble-minded.  The  instruction 
matter  derived  from  the  pupils'  own  experiences 
— from  that  which  has  occurred  and  from  that 
Avhich  has  been  observed — undoubtedly  is  of 
greatest  value  for  their  training.  So  far  as  pos- 
sible, all  observation  should  begin  with  the 
natural  objects  themselves.  Household  materials, 
eatables,  etc.,  are  to  be  actually  shown  to  the 
children;  other  things  which  can  not  be  so  easily 


SYMPTOMATIC  TREATMENT     353 

procured  should  at  least  be  shown  in  picture  or 
model.  Because  the  value  of  observation  is  in- 
creased by  effort,  an  impression  gained  through  a 
long  walk  in  the  open  air,  will  not  be  so  easily  for- 
gotten as  one  brought  directly  to  the  child.  Trees, 
vegetables,  flowers,  and  fruits  must  be  designated 
and  stress  laid  upon  the  characteristic  marks  of 
different  animals.  At  the  same  time  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  things  shown  should  be  explained  and 
the  foundation  thereby  laid  for  an  understanding 
of  cause  and  purpose.  So  far  as  possible  questions 
are  to  be  answered  by  demonstrating  the  object  or 
action  about  which  information  is  sought.  Show 
how  wheat,  flour,  bread  are  obtained.  Show  whence 
is  derived  the  material  for  our  clothes,  whence 
come  wool  and  meat,  whence  the  egg,  milk,  butter, 
etc.  The  study  of  arithmetic,  causing  most  fatigue, 
must  be  looked  upon  as  the  chief  stumbling-block 
for  the  training  of  the  feeble-minded.  Counting 
should  be  taught  by  making  use  of  tangible  objects 
as,  for  instance,  the  small  balls  of  the  counting 
frame.  Counting  upon  the  fingers  is  often  a  great 
instructional  aid.  Concrete  examples  should,  so 
far  as  is  possible,  constitute  the  basis  for  practise. 
"We  have  already  remarked  upon  the  astonishing 


354  CHILD    TRAINING 

memory  for  figures  possest  by  weak-minded  chil- 
dren, but  this  one-sided  development  is  accom- 
panied only  rarely  by  any  arithmetical  aptitude,  so 
that  in  the  feeble-minded  the  most  pronounced 
deficiencies  are  those  pertaining  to  numbers  and 
figuring.  Voisin  describes  how  the  child  should  be 
made  to  give  money  in  payment  for  candies  and 
then  to  receive  money  in  change,  thereby  acquiring 
the  notion  of  subtraction.  Practical  assistance  may 
be  derived  from  Herterich's  folding  closet  which 
serves  as  a  store  counter.  At  this  the  children 
alternately  assume  the  roles  of  storekeeper  and 
customer,  weigh  and  measure  the  various  wares, 
pay  for  their  purchases  with  real  money  and,  by 
means  of  the  prices,  which  are  based  upon  condi- 
tions in  real  business,  are  familiarized  with  prac- 
tical life  and  with  its  simplest  necessary  arith- 
metical operations.  The  children  who  in  play  thus 
learn  something  of  concrete  calculation  and  acquire 
some  knowledge  of  goods,  coins,  weights,  and  meas- 
ures, should  at  the  same  time  be  taught  that  the 
money  which  has  served  them  for  purchasing  the 
necessaries  of  life  must  first  be  earned  by  means 
of  work.  Abstract  figuring,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
usually  beyond  the  intellectual  capability  of  most 


SYMPTOMATIC  TREATMENT     355 

feeble-minded  children.  Success  in  instructing  the 
feeble-minded  is  essentially  dependent  upon  the 
teacher's  skill  in  making  the  lessons  as  simple  and 
as  practical  as  possible,  in  basing  his  explanations 
upon  as  few  abstract  ideas  as  possible  and  in  per- 
mitting the  children  themselves  to  discover  as 
much  as  possible  of  what  they  are  to  find.  Under 
no  circumstances  should  the  teacher,  through 
severity  or  any  other  stimulus,  attempt  to  force 
the  child  to  overcome  the  feeling  of  fatigue  pro- 
duced by  the  lesson;  he  should  interrupt  the  in- 
struction and  interpose  a  period  of  rest  as  soon  as 
the  child's  loss  of  interest  shows  it  is  tired. 

Only  the  teacher  born  to  his  profession  possesses 
the  perspicacity  requisite  for  all  this.  Especially 
is  this  true  in  relation  to  the  art  of  individualiza- 
tion. Even  if  there  is  no  necessity  for  elaborating 
totally  different  methods  of  instruction  for  the 
apathetic  and  the  erethismic  imbeciles,  and  the 
same  remedial  pedagogic  influences  may  be  equally 
effective  in  training  stolid  or  excitable  children, 
still  the  fact  that  these  wards  possess  individual 
psychic  peculiarities  does  furnish  cause  for  fre- 
quent variations  of  treatment.  It  is  the  teacher 
who  is  imbued  with  his  mission  that  will  always 


356  CHILD    TRAINING 

have  due  regard  for  the  pupils'  individual  require- 
ments and  will  be  able  to  find  what  is  suited  to 
their  respective  capabilities.  He  will  require  no 
detailed  rules  of  action  or  procedure  but  will  be 
able,  under  all  circumstances,  to  select  his  own 
path.  For  this  reason  I  have  refrained  from 
giving  details  regarding  the  various  methods  of  in- 
structing the  feeble-minded  and  have  confined  my- 
self to  an  elucidation  of  the  general  principles 
which  must  govern  all  instruction  based  upon  psy- 
chological laws.  Any  one  who  has  grasped  the 
principles  of  prophylactic  training  will  have  no 
difficulty  in  properly  understanding  therapeutic 
training  by  means  of  a  judicious  apportionment  of 
effort  and  repose. 

A  thing  that  is  still  more  difficult  than  an  im- 
plantation of  knowledge  is  the  exertion  of  remedial 
control  upon  the  will  and  the  emotions.  In  the 
normal  child  intense  emotion  may  often  be  utilized 
as  an  actual  means  of  training,  while  in  the  feeble- 
minded this  means  is  lacking  because  all  emotions 
of  such  children  are  usually  superficial  and  fleet- 
ing. "Weygandt  very  properly  says  the  teacher 
whose  fingers  would  grasp  a  rod  at  every  dis- 
obedience of  a  feeble-minded  pupil  had  better  cease 


SYMPTOMATIC    TREATMENT  357 

occupying  himself  with  pathological  children.  Un- 
fortunately even  some  physicians  recommend  a 
whipping  for  the  restless,  the  inactive,  or  the 
fractious  feeble-minded  child. 

It  is  most  difificult  to  arouse  the  more  complicated 
emotions,  and  even  the  most  painstaking  efforts  in 
this  direction  are  rarely  successful.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  combat  against  unpleasing  and  abnormal 
emotional  manifestations  is  very  frequently  neces- 
sary. The  lower  stage  upon  which  the  development 
of  the  feeble-minded  has  been  arrested  shows  itself 
among  other  things  by  the  persistence  of  inordinate 
egotism.  In  them,  the  pleasure  of  others  arouses 
no  response,  the  distress  of  others  no  sympathy. 
For  this  reason  the  feeble-minded  child  itself  must 
be  placed  in  the  foreground  of  every  story  told  with 
the  purpose  of  inculcating  any  moral  idea. 

The  child's  own  experiences  must  serve  as  a 
starting  point  from  which  may  be  elaborated 
situations  which  the  child  will  recognize  as  true. 
By  bringing  the  feeble-minded  child  into  close  rela- 
tion with  elementary  moral  notions,  and  utilizing 
its  imagination  in  order  to  make  these  ideas  appear 
to  be  part  of  what  it  has  already  experienced,  we 
may  ultimately  be  able  so  to  influence  it  that  its 


358  CHILD    TRAINING 

acts  will  be  governed  by  moral  motives.  The 
opinion  that  every  feeble-minded  individual  must 
act  immorally,  because  such  action  is  directly  de- 
pendent upon  its  psychic  disposition,  is  undoubt- 
edly wrong.  On  the  contrary,  the  majority  of 
feeble-minded  children  are  morally  culturable.  To 
inculcate  feelings  of  altruism  in  psychically  de- 
fective children,  it  is  advantageous  to  entrust 
flowers  and  growing  plants  to  their  care  and  there- 
by to  instil  in  their  minds  a  feeling  of  pleasure  at 
the  growth  and  prosperity  of  other  things  than 
themselves.  Very  many  feeble-minded  children 
show  a  touching  sympathy  for  the  growing  plants 
confided  to  them.  They  always  water  them  at  the 
proper  time,  carefully  remove  every  withered  leaf, 
see  that  they  have  ample  light  and  air,  and  thus 
acquire  those  feelings  of  compassion  and  sympathy 
to  which  they  have  previously  been  strangers.  To 
confide  small  domestic  animals  to  the  care  of  feeble- 
minded children  is  not  advisable  on  account  of 
their  proclivity  to  torment  and  to  tease.  If  the 
educator  knows  how  to  divert  the  excessive  self- 
love  of  the  child  from  itself  to  plants  or  other 
objects,  he  will  find  the  child  showing  greater  at- 
tachment to  him  and  obeying  more  willingly. 


SYMPTOMATIC    TREATMENT  359 

The  fluctuations  of  emotion,  which  are  so  char- 
acteristic, can  be  influenced  only  with  the  greatest 
difficulty,  and  the  pathological  aberrations  of  char- 
acter so  often  encountered  usually    resist    every 
therapeutic  influence.     The  exacting,  moody,  quar- 
relsome behavior  of  imbeciles  and  hysterics,    their 
pathologically  distorted  egotism  and  their  phan- 
tastic  untruthfulness  will  render  fruitless  all  efforts 
to  call  forth  in  them  a  sense  of  responsibility.     At 
most,  a  certain  automatic  adaptation  to  disciplinary 
measures  may  sometimes  be  obtained.    In  hysterical 
children  disordered  sensations  may  occasionally  be 
eliminated  without  waking  suggestions  or  hypnosis, 
by  disconcerting  and  bewildering  the  child  through 
an  energetic  command.     The  child  is  so  astonished 
at  the  severity  of  the  measure   adopted  and  its 
immediate  effect  that  the  idea  of  illness  passes  and 
does  not  return.     Then,  too,  in  hysterics  the  em- 
ployment of  suggestive  measures  conveyed  under 
the  guise  of  some  actual  treatment  is  often  most 
effective.     Sometimes  the  best  results  are  attained 
by  completely  ignoring  the  children's  feeling  of 
illness,  by  accepting  no  excuse  and  holding  them 
entirely  responsible  for  their  actions.  Only  in  that 
way  can   the  will-power  of  neuropathically  tainted 


360  CHILD    TRAINING 

individuals  be  strengthened  so  they  will  be  enabled 
to  overcome  their  diseased  tendencies  and  impulses. 

Of  no  less  importance  is  the  problem  of  convey- 
ing to  the  educable  feeble-minded,  in  addition  to 
certain  elementary  moral  conceptions  and  the 
scanty  knowledge  which  they  may  obtain  in  school, 
certain  acquirements  which  will  be  of  practical  use 
to  them  in  their  later  life.  The  attempt  should  at 
least  be  made  to  teach  them  some  vocation.  A  good 
preparation  for  such  teaching  is  furnished  espe- 
cially by  separable  models,  because  through  them 
may  be  obtained  an  understanding  of  the  individual 
mechanism.  Joining  one  part  to  another  into  a 
whole  trains  the  power  of  combination  and,  through 
awakening  reflections  leads  to  the  discovery  of  the 
means  necessary  to  attain  a  certain  end,  thus  guid- 
ing the  feeble-minded  child  to  freedom  and  inde- 
pendence. Nowhere  is  this  shown  to  better  advan- 
tage than  in  the  Montessori  method. 

Simultaneously  with  other  instruction  a  certain 
training  in  mechanical  dexterity  should  be  under- 
taken. In  the  beginning  this  may  be  restricted  to 
the  performance  of  household  work.  In  conformity 
with  their  greater  bodily  strength,  boys  should  be 
urged  to  do  the  heavier  work,   such  as  carrying 


SYMPTOMATIC    TREATMENT  361 

coal,  chopping  wood,  etc.,  while  girls  should  be 
induced  to  knit,  sew,  clean  the  house,  cook,  wash, 
etc.  Later  the  children  should,  if  possible,  be 
employed  in  the  field  and  garden,  as  well  as  in 
the  workshop.  The  feeble-minded  of  higher  grade 
may  be  trained  as  shoemakers,  tailors,  locksmiths, 
carpenters  or  bookbinders,  those  of  the  lower  grade 
as  basket  or  carpet  weavers,  rope  and  broom 
makers.  For  the  lower  grade  of  educable  idiots 
pursuits  as  simple  and  unvarying  as  possible 
should  be  selected,  such  as  stable  cleaning,  wood 
chopping  and  shoveling  in  the  field  and  garden, 
because  these  occupations,  being  more  easily  re- 
membered, sooner  become  automatic,  and  because 
they  are  markedly  advantageous  from  the  point  of 
view  of  bodily  hygiene. 

All  feeble-minded  children  can  be  trained  in  these 
various  ways,  some  more,  some  less  effectively,  in 
accordance  with  the  developmental  capacity  they 
respectively  possess.  Decidedly  the  most  difficult 
parts  of  the  task  are  the  first  awakening  of  the 
attention,  without  which  no  training  in  the  use  of 
the  sensory  and  motor  apparatus  can  begin,  and 
the  first  instruction  in  speech.  Training  of  the 
feeble-minded  is  often  hindered  by  the  two  follow- 


,3G2  CHILD    TRAINING 

ing  circumstances:  First,  it  requires  a  greater 
teaching  force  than  we  usually  have  at  our  disposal ; 
and  secondly,  a  larger  number  of  institutions  re- 
ceive only  children  above  a  certain  age,  usually 
from  five  years  upward,  so  that  a  certain  time  is 
lost  during  W'hich,  in  the  absence  of  proper  home 
training,  the  natural  state  of  the  child  will  easily 
become  more  fixt  as  a  result  of  which  all  future 
treatment  will  be  rendered  more  difficult.  Let  us 
conclude  this  chapter,  then,  by  reiterating  the  ad- 
monition that  weak-minded  or  neuropathically 
tainted  children  should  be  placed  in  an  institution 
as  soon  as  possible,  in  a  public  one  if  necessary,  or, 
if  the  parent's  means  permit,  in  a  more  advan- 
tageously organized  private  one. 


II.     THE    UNEDUCABLE 

Not  always  does  therapeutic  training  succeed  in 
enabling  the  feeble-minded  to  provide  for  their 
own  maintenance  and  render  them  capable  of  going 
about  without  supervision.  Some  children,  who  in 
the  beginning  showed  a  certain  educability,  later — 
and  usually  around  the  period  of  puberty — retro- 
grade and  lose  much  of  the  knowledge  they  had 
acquired.  Frequently  even  a  brief  change  of  sur- 
roundings, with  its  interruption  of  remedial  in- 
fluences, will  be  sufficient  to  cause  the  idiotic  child 
to  fall  back  into  the  stage  of  hopeless  unedueability. 
When  it  becomes  clear  that  all  further  attempts  at 
education  will  be  futile,  the  institutional  treatment 
will  necessarily  be  restricted  to  constant  care  and 
supervision. 

In  the  chapter  on  prophylactic  training,  I  have 
shown  that  we  must  endeavor  by  every  means  to 
prevent  the  birth  of  children  who,  according  to  all 
human  foresight,  will  be  obliged  as  degenerates  to 
lead  lives  of  misery.  I  have  also  said  that  I  even 
consider  so  drastic  a  measure  as  artificial  steriliza- 
363 


364  CHILD    TRAINING 

tiou  justified,  and  that  the  prospects  for  the  pre- 
vention of  feeble-mindedness  and  of  the  trans- 
mission of  hereditary  taints  will  become  the  more 
hopeful  the  more  actively  the  battle  is  waged 
against  alcoholism  and  syphilis. 

It  may  not  be  irrelevant  to  consider  what  object 
there  can  be  in  keeping  alive,  by  means  of  insti- 
tutional care,  individuals  who  can  never  be  of  any 
worth  to  human  society  but,  on  the  contrary,  con- 
stitute a  decided  burden.  Some  persons  may  say 
the  sacrifice  of  time,  trouble,  and  money  for  the 
care  of  the  infirm  and  the  sick  represents  senseless 
extravagance  when  once  it  has  been  shown  there  is 
no  hope  of  restoring  the  afflicted  ones  to  good 
health.  As  a  matter  of  fact  such  objections  have 
been  raised  by  the  extreme  advocates  of  race 
hygiene.  We  should  not  forget,  however,  that 
warm  sympathy  calls  for  a  procedure  different  from 
what  cold  reason  is  likely  to  demand.  The  same 
compassion  that  tells  us  that  we  must  endeavor  to 
prevent  the  birth  of  children  predestined  to  misery 
by  the  inexorable  laws  of  nature,  directs  us,  when 
such  unfortunates  are  already  here,  to  alleviate 
their  pitiful  conditions  as  far  as  possible.  These 
wretched  beings  are  not  the  cause  of  their  own 


THE  UNEDUCABLE  365 

misery,  and  for  this  reason  it  is  our  duty  all  the 
more  to  endeavor  to  lighten  their  burdens.  Human 
happiness  by  no  means  represents  a  state  in  which 
there  is  complete  freedom  from  wishes  and  desires, 
but  is  based  in  great  part  upon  the  satisfaction 
which  is  the  result  of  good  actions.  That  which  is 
noblest  and  highest  in  man,  and  which  can  be 
aroused  in  the  feeble-minded  only  with  the  greatest 
difficulty — the  feeling  of  altruism — would  neces- 
sarily shrink  and  disappear  were  there  no  suffer- 
ing in  the  alleviation  of  which  it  could  exert  itself. 
The  more  wretchedness  and  suffering  we  have  about 
us  the  more  ardent  is  our  altruistic  desire  to  afford 
help  and  to  bring  pleasure  to  the  miserable. 

In  every  idiot,  no  matter  how  uneducable,  there 
is  something  to  be  rescued.  By  proper  care  for 
his  physical  well-being,  he  can  be  raised  from  his 
inhuman,  animal-like  state,  to  a  condition  worthy 
of  a  human  being.  No  idiot  is  so  low-grade  that 
he  can  not  feel  some  contentment  when  kept  clean, 
when  properly  fed  and  when  kept  occupied  with 
some  simple  task.  There  is  another  important 
point  that  must  not  be  overlooked.  Every  un- 
educable idiot  is  irresponsible;  he  can  not  be  held 
accountable   for  his   deeds.     When   left  free   and 


366  CHILD    TRAINING 

unrestrained  he  may  easily  become  a  menace  to 
himself  and  to  others.  When  he  is  kept  in  an  in- 
stitution both  he  and  the  public  are  guarded  against 
danger.  It  is  becoming  more  and  more  generally 
recognized  that  a  well-conducted  institution  for 
idiots  becomes  a  veritable  haven  of  safety  for  those 
pitiable  creatures,  who,  altho  they  have  given 
nothing  to  the  world,  altho  they  have  in  no  wise 
helped  in  the  progress  of  civilization  by  useful 
work,  are  nevertheless  entitled  to  all  possible  con- 
sideration on  account  of  the  sins  which  mankind 
has  committed  against  them. 

While  the  idiot  who  has  tendencies  toward  out- 
breaks of  violence  must  be  placed  in  an  institution, 
the  harmless  may  receive  family  care.  Yet,  before 
deciding  the  latter  as  satisfactory,  we  should  always 
consider  that  the  mere  physical  care  of  these  poor 
creatures  requires  an  amount  of  patience  rarely 
possest  even  by  their  own  relatives.  Moreover,  the 
relatives  of  such  children  as  a  rule,  have  not  the 
least  idea  which  idiosyncrasies  require  special  at- 
tention and  therefore,  notwithstanding  all  solici- 
tude and  affection,  they  may  cause  damage  instead 
of  benefit.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  all  un- 
educable  idiots,  whether  violent  or  not,  will  be  best 


THE  UNEDUCABLE  367 

cared  for  in  a  well-managed  institution  under  the 
care  of  an  able  psychiatrist  until  the  time  when 
they  must  be  transferred  to  a  hospital  for  the  adult 
insane  or  until  death  puts  an  end  to  an  existence 
in  which  perhaps  the  only  ray  of  light  has  been 
the  gratification  caused  by  the  care  and  attention 
received. 


PART  SIXTH 
CONCLUSION 

Before  concluding  the  inquiry  which  has  formed 
the  subject  matter  of  this  book,  let  us  again  briefly 
note  the  main  points,  A  survey  of  the  course 
which  medico-pedagogic  investigation  has  taken 
shows  that  all  success  in  training  and  instruction 
is  based  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  experimental 
psychology  of  childhood.  The  gradual  develop- 
ment of  this  branch  of  science  from  its  crude  be- 
ginnings to  its  present  precision  has  been  clearly 
shown.  Its  nucleus  is  the  doctrine  of  psycho- 
physical parallelism,  in  accordance  with  which 
every  psychic  manifestation  of  life  must  be  accom- 
panied by  a  physical  movement  or  a  change  in  the 
central  nervous  system.  This  phenomenon  takes 
place  under  normal  and  under  pathological  con- 
ditions. 

To  be  able  to  differentiate  health  from  disease, 
to  be  able  correspondingly  to  adjust  the  necessary 

369 


r570  CHILD    TRAINING 

prophylactic  or  therapeutic  influences,  to  be  able 
to  individualize  in  the  care  and  training  of  neuro- 
pathic children  on  the  borderline  of  health  and 
disease,  are  tasks  which  can  be  satisfactorily  accom- 
plished only  by  the  harmonious  cooperation  of  the 
physician  and  the  professional  educator.  Trans- 
itions from  the  normal  to  the  pathological  often 
occur  so  insidiously  as  to  escape  the  unpractised 
eye.  While  it  might  therefore  seem  desirable  for 
the  principals  of  schools  and  training  institutions 
to  have  a  professional  medical  education,  and  for 
the  physicians  who  are  called  upon  to  supervise  the 
hygiene  of  our  schools  to  have  a  pedagogic  training, 
we  can  not  demand  too  much,  and  must  for  the 
present,  at  any  rate,  rest  content  if  both  educator 
and  physician  recognize  physiological  and  patho- 
logical psychology  as  being  common  ground  from 
which  the  development  of  the  child  is  to  be  ob- 
served and  determined. 

"While  I  am  willing  to  leave  it  an  open  question 
whether  training  institutions  for  the  educable 
feeble-minded  should  be  under  pedagogic  or  under 
medical  supervision,  I  must  maintain  that  all  in- 
stitutions for  the  uneducable  idiot,  in  which  the 
sole  question  is  one  of  regulating  the  lives  of  the 


CONCLUSION  371 

children  in  accordance  with  the  principles  of 
medicine  and  hygiene,  should  be  under  the  direc- 
tion exclusively  of  specialistically  educated  phy- 
sicians. 

The  present  day  development  of  pedagogy,  as 
well  as  of  medicine  and  other  sciences,  has  shown 
that  nothing  is  so  difficult  as  to  free  ourselves  from 
the  prejudices  which  obscure  our  vision  and  give 
all  our  observations  a  false  aspect.  The  mainte- 
nance of  apriori  theories,  notwithstanding  practical 
proof  of  their  incorrectness,  made  it  impossible  for 
pedagogy  to  attain  anything  but  scanty  results 
whenever  it  dealt  with  children  who  did  not  fit 
into  the  previously  constructed  mold.  This  same 
bias  is  the  cause  of  the  cruel  treatment  which  the 
feeble-minded  received  as  late  as  a  century  ago 
and  explains  why  they  were  neglected,  permitted 
to  degrade  both  mentally  and  physically,  tortured 
by  harsh  physical  punishment  and  driven  into 
vagrancy  or  prostitution.  Since  we  have  shaken 
off  these  deep-rooted  prejudices  and  have  come  to 
realize  that  humanity  for  centuries  has  allowed 
artificial  and  fantastic  theories  to  stand  in  its  own 
light,  we  have  also  learned  to  recognize  matters  as 
they  actually  are.     To-day  we  know  that  all  natural 


372  CHILD    TRAINING 

processes  take  their  course  in  accordance  with  the 
law  of  cause  and  effect  and  we  have  so  studied  this 
relationship  that  we  are  able  to  make  use  of  it  for 
our  own  advantage.  As  applied  to  pedagogy  it 
means  that  the  methods  of  instruction  deduced 
from  the  natural  laws  of  the  child's  development 
enables  us,  notwithstanding  a  limited  brain  capa- 
bility, to  augment  man's  efficiency  so  as  to  fulfil 
the  demands  made  by  cultural  progress  and  to  do 
this  without  overtaxing  the  normally  constituted 
child.  But  it  also  means  that  in  the  psychopathi- 
cally  tainted  child  much  more  can  be  saved  than 
ever  was  dreamed  of  by  older  pedagogy,  and  that 
many  more  such  children  can  be  brought  up  to 
become  useful  individuals  than  we  formerly  thought 
possible.  The  sacrifice  of  time,  money,  and  effort 
in  behalf  of  prophylactic  and  therapeutic  education 
is  by  no  means  an  unfruitful  investment ;  it  returns 
manifold  interest  if  in  no  other  way  in  the  con- 
stantly growing  causal  treatment  of  deficient  chil- 
dren. 


LITERATURE 

1.  Bateson  (W,),  "Mendel's  Principles  of  Heredity," 
Cambridge,  1913. 

2.  Bayon,  "Beitrag  zur  Diagnose  und  Lehre  vom  Kreti- 
nismus  unter  besonderer  Beriieksichtigung  der  Dif- 
ferential-Diagnose mit  anderem  Zwerg-wuchs  und 
Schwachsinn,"  Wiirzburg,  1903. 

3.  Berkhan  ( 0. ) ,  "Der  Angeborene  und  f riih  erworbene 
Schwachsinn,"  Braunschweig,  1904. 

4.  Binet  (A.  and  Simon),  "Les  enfants  anormaux," 
Paris,  1907. 

5.  Bourneville  (D.  M.),  "Du  traitment  ehirurgieal  de 
I'idiotie,"  Arch,  de  Neurologie,  1892. 

6.  Bresgen  (M.),  "Ueber  die  Bedeutung  behinderter 
Nasenathmung,"  Hamburg,  1890. 

7.  Broadbent  (W.  H.),  The  Lancet,  January  and  Feb- 
ruary, 1874. 

8.  Buschan  (G.),  "Das  Myxoedem  und  verwandte 
Zustaende,"  Leipzig,  1896. 

9.  Bullard  (W.  N.),  "Mongolian  Idiocy,"  Boston  Med. 

and  Surgical  Journal,  Jan.  12,  1911. 

10.  Clouston  (T.  S.),  Journal  of  Mental  Science,  Lon- 
don, 1888.    P.  335. 

11.  Gushing  (Harvey),  "Concerning  Surgical  Interven- 
tion for  Cranial  Hemorrhage  in  the  New-born," 
American  Journal  of  the  Medical  Sciences,  Oct.  1905. 

373 


374  CHILD    TRAINING 

12.  Cusliing  (Harvey),  "The  Special  Field  of  Neuro- 
logical Surgery.  Five  Years  Later,"  John  Hopkins 
Hospital  Bulletin,  Vol.  XXI,  No.  23G,  Nov.,  1910. 

13.  Dearborn,  "Moto-Sensory  Development,"  Baltimore, 
1910. 

14.  Demme,  "Ueber  den  Einfluss  des  Alkohols  auf  den 
Organismus  des  Kindcs,"  Leipzig,  1902. 

15.  Demoor,  "Die  anomalen  Kinder  und  ihre  erziehliche 
Behandlung  in  Haus  und  Seliule,"  Altenburg,  1901. 

16.  Dubois-Reymond,  "Ueber  die  Uebung,"  Berlin,  1881. 

17.  Friedjung,  "Die  Pathologie  des  einzigen  Kindes," 
Wien,  1911,  p.  40,  Chapter  III. 

18.  Fuchs  (Arno),  "Schwaehsinnige  Kinder,"  Giitersloh, 
1912. 

19.  Gaupp,  "Die  Psychologic  des  Kindes,"  Leipzig,  1908. 

20.  Goddard,  "New  Jersey  Training-school  for  Feeble- 
Minded  Boys  and  Girls."  22nd  Annual  Report,  1910. 

21.  Gregor,  "Leitfaden  der  experimentalen  Pathologie," 
Berlin,  1910. 

22.  Groszmann  (M.  P.  E.),  "The  Career  of  the  Child," 
Boston  (no  date). 

23.  Guggenblihl,  "Die  Heilung  und  Verhiitung  des 
Cretinismus  und  ihre  neuesten  Fortschritte,"  Bern, 
1853. 

24.  Gulick  (L.  H.),  "Mechanotherapy,"  Philadelphia, 
1904. 

25.  Heoker  (Edward),  "Die  Hebephrenic.  Ein  Beitrag 
zur  Klinischen  Psychiatric,"  Virchow's  Archiv., 
1871,  Heft  3,  p.  394. 

26.  Also  MUnchener  Med.  Wochenschrift,  1902,  No. 
46. 


LITERATURE  375 

27.  Heller  (Theodore),  "Grundriss  der  Heilpiidagogik," 
Leipzig,  1912. 

28.  Heller  (Theodore),  "Die  Psyehologie  und  Psyehopa- 
tbologie  des  Kindes,"  Wien,  1911. 

29.  Heller  (Theodore),  ''Schwachsinnigenforsehung, 
Ftirsorge,  Erziehung  und  Heilpadagogik,"  Halle, 
1909. 

30.  Holmes  (Arthur),  "The  Consei-vation  of  the  Child," 
Philadelphia,  1912. 

31.  Holmes  (Edmond),  "What  Is  and  What  Might  Be," 
London,  1912. 

32.  Jacoby  (George  W.),  "Lumbar  Puncture  of  the 
Subarachnoid  Space,"  A'^.  Y.  Med.  Journal,  Dec.  23, 
1895,  and  Jan.  4,  1896. 

33.  Jacoby  (George  W.),  "Suggestion  and  Psychother- 
apy," N.  Y.,  1912. 

34.  Jacoby  (George  W.),  "The  Montessori  Method  from 
a  Physician's  Viewpoint,"  Medical  Record,  April 
19,  1913. 

35.  Jacoby  (George  W.),  "A  Colony  Sanatorium  for  the 
Nervous  and  Neurasthenic,"  Neio  York  Medical 
Journal,  April  18,  1908. 

36.  Kirchoff,  "Geschiehte  der  deutschen  Irrenpflege," 
Berlin,  1890. 

37.  Koch  (J.  L.  A.),  "Die  psychopathischen  Minderwer- 
thigkeiten,"  Ravensburg,  1891. 

38.  Ladd  (Geo.  Trumbull),  "Elements  of  Physiological 
Psychology,"  New  York,  1911. 

39.  Lange,  "Ueber  Kraempfe  im  Kindesalter,"  Mi'in- 
chener  Medizinische  Wochenscrift,  1900. 


376  CHILD    TRAINING 

40.  Loewenstein,  "Ueber  mikroeephalische  Idiotie  und 
ihre  chirurgisehe  Behandlung  naeh  Lannelongue," 
Beitrag  zur  Klinischen  Chirurgie,  Bd.  26,  Heft  1. 

41.  Moellcr,  "Ueber  Intelligenzpriifungen,"  Berlin,  1897. 

42.  Montessori  (Maria),  "The  Montessori  Method." 
Translated  by  Anne  E.  George,  2nd  edition,  New 
York,  1912. 

43.  Myers,  "A  Text-Book  of  Experimental  Psychology 
with  Laboratory  Exercises,"  Cambridge,  1911. 

44.  Oppenheim  (H.),  "Nervenleiden  und  Erziehung," 
Berlin,  1899. 

45.  Pilez,  "Ein  weiterer  Beitrag  zur  Lehre  von  der 
Mikrocephalie,"  Jahrhiicher  fiir  Psychiatrie  und 
Neurologie,  Bd.  18,  Heft  3. 

46.  Preyer.  "Die  Seele  des  Kindes,"  Leipzig,  1895. 

47.  Pyles,  "The  Outlines  of  Educational  Psychology," 
Baltimore,  1911. 

48.  Reil  (Joan  Christianus),  "Rhapsodien  ueber  die 
Anwendung  der  psyehischen  Kumiethode  auf 
Geistes  Zerruttung,"  1803. 

49.  Rehn,  "Verhandlungen  des  V.  Congresses  fiir  innere 

Medizin,"  1886. 

50.  Scholz   (L.),  "Anomale  Kinder,"  Berlin,  1912. 

51.  Seguin  (Edouard),  "Idiocy  and  its  Treatment  by 
the  Physiological  Method,"  New  York,  1866. 

52.  Seguin  (Edouard),  "New  Facts  and  Remarks  Con- 
cerning Idiocy,"  New  York,  1870. 

53.  Seguin  (Edouard),  "Traitement  moral,  hygiene  et 
education  des  idiots  et  des  autres  enfants  arrieres," 
Paris,  1846. 


LITERATURE  377 

54.  Smith  (A.  T.),  "The  Montessori  System  of  Educa- 
tion," Washington,  1912. 

55.  Smith   (T.  L.),  "The  Montessori  System  in  Theory 
and  Practise,"  New  York,  1912. 

56.  Sommer,  "Lehrbuch  der  psycho-pathologischeu  Unter- 
suchmigsmethoden,"  Berlin,  1907. 

57.  Spencer  (Herbert),  "Education — Intellectual,  Moral 
and  Physical,"  London,  1903. 

58.  Strohmayer,   "Vorlesungen  ueber  die   Psychopatho- 
logie  des  Kindesalters,"  Tiibingen,  1910. 

59.  Troemmer,    "Das    Jugendirresein     (Dementia    Prae- 
cox),"  Halle,  1900. 

60.  Weygandt,    "Die   Behandlung    der   idiotischen    und 
imbezielen  Bander,"  Wiirzburg,  1900. 

61.  Wille,  "Die  Psychosen  des  Pubertaetsalters,"  Leip- 
zig, 1898. 


INDEX 


Abendberg,  18. 

Abnormal    individuals,    Atten- 
tion in.  57,  58. 

Activity,  involuntary,  47,  48. 

Activity,  mental,  49. 

Activity,   sensory,  development 
of,  229. 

Adenoid  vegetations,  4,  156. 

Aestbesionietric  test,   128. 

Agrammatism,  118. 

Alcobolism,   see  Parents. 

Alcoholism  and  idiocy,  187. 

Apbasia,  79,  208. 

Aphasia,   cortical  motor,  79. 

Apperception,     55,     113,     179, 
183. 

Aprosexia,  154. 

Arithmetic,  in   the  training  of 
the   feeble-minded,    353. 

Art,  the  nude  in,  309. 

Arteriosclerosis,   67. 

Asexualization,   222. 

Association  fibers,  41. 

Asylums  for  feeble-minded,  16. 

Ataxia,  268. 

Athletics,  256. 

Attention,  54,  56. 

Attention,  active,  ISO. 

Attention,  development    of, 
241. 

Attention,  exemplification    of. 
56. 

Attention,    in    abnormal    indi- 
viduals, 57,  58. 

Attention,  in  idiocy,  199. 

Attention,  passive,  180. 

Atypical  children,  213. 

Atypical      children     and     the 
public   schools,    288. 

Atypical    children    to    be    re- 
moved from  their  homes,  248. 

Authority,    the    child's    rever- 
ence for,  305. 


Auxiliary  classes,  230. 
Aveyron,  Savage  of  the,  21. 

Bateson,    87. 

Bathing.   250. 

Bedwetting,  treatment  of,  335. 

Bentley,  Alys  E.,  273. 

Bergmann,  324. 

Berkhan,  172,  226. 

Bicetre,   22. 

Binet  age,   125. 

Binet-Simon    test,    116,    123. 

Biogenesis,    fundamental    law 

of,  80. 
Bircher,  161. 

Blindness,   congenital,    174. 
Bodily   development,   243. 
Body    and    mind,    relation    of, 

251. 
Border-line  children,    219. 
Bourneville,   187. 
Brachydactylism,  86. 
Brain,  34. 

Brain,   automatic  activity,   57. 
Brain,  composition,  35. 
Brain,  exhaustibility  of,   62. 
Brain,   fatigability  of,   115. 
Brain,  Assures  of,  36. 
Brain,  localization,  34. 
Brain,   puncture  of,   324. 
Broadbent,   278. 
Bruehl.  156. 
Bullard,  169. 
Buschan,  329. 

Cachexia  Thyreopriva,  165. 
Carnegie,   Andrew,   300. 
Cerebellum,  35.  36. 
Cerebellum,   ganglion    cells   of, 

64. 
Cerebrospinal    fluid,     pressure 

of,   193. 
Character,  defects  of.  10. 
Character,  moral,  110. 


379 


380 


INDEX 


Chastisement  of  feeble-minded 

clalldren,  33G. 
riiild,  association  witli  grown- 
up people,  293. 
Cliild,   character  formation   of, 

303. 
Child,    egotism,    108. 
Child,  individuality  of,  3,  5. 
Child   imagination,   lOo. 
Child  suicide,  309. 
Child,   the   only,   293. 
Clouston,   198. 
Companionship,     influence     of, 

U93. 
Conduct,   moral,    111. 
Constancy,  law  of,  82. 
Convulsions,  195. 
Coordination,  97,  2G2. 
Coordination,     mechanism     of, 

267. 
Coordination  through  gymnas- 
tics, 253. 
Corpus  Callosum,  30. 
Craniectomy,   323. 
Cretinism,  157-1G2. 
Cretinism,   surgical,   164. 
Cretinism,    symptoms    of,    19. 
Cretinism,    thyroid   feeding  in, 

326. 
Cretinism,  treatment  of,  27. 
Cretins,    ethical    deficiency    in, 
167. 

Dalcroze,    261. 

Darwinism,   81. 

Dead  speech,   151. 

Deafness,   congenital,   174. 

Deaf-muteness,    177. 

Degenerates,  laws  against  mar- 
riage  of,    222. 

Degeneration  and  regenera- 
tion,  145. 

Dementia,   premature,    197. 

Dementia,  senile,  66. 

Dendrites,  41. 

De   Sanctis,   127. 

Development  by  stages.  97. 

Development,   bodily,  243. 

Development,  dependent  upon 
apperception,   183. 

Development,  intellectual,  of 
the  child,  95,  275. 


Development  of  mental  life, 
100. 

Dietetics,  245. 

Displeasure,  feeling  of,  in  chil- 
dren,  107. 

Domrich,   IS". 

Drawing,   281. 

Dreams.  71. 

Educability     as     a     basis     for 

classification.  332. 
Egotism   in  children,   108. 
Egotism,  natural,   304. 
Emotional   life,   107. 
Environment,  iniluence  of,  248. 
Esthesiometer,  128. 
Eurythmy,   261. 
Evolution  and  mental  life,  96. 
Evolution,  principle  of,  100. 
Example,  power  of,  109. 
Exorcism,   16. 

Fairy  tales,  105. 
Fantasy,  105. 

Fatigue  and  gymnastics,  258 
Fatigue,  brain,  115. 
Fatigue,  degree  of,  50 
Fatigue  measurements,  129. 
Fear,    states    of,    during   gym- 
nastics upon  apparatus.  268. 
Feeble-minded,  asylums  for.  16. 
Feeble-minded,  chastisement  of, 

336. 
Feeble-minded,  classification  of, 

125. 
Feeble-mindedness,    8,    16,    20, 

24. 
Feeble-mindedness,       acquired, 

186. 
Feeble-mindedness,    congenital, 

187. 
Feeble-mindedness,  convulsions 

as  a  cause  of,  195. 
Feeble-mindedness,     secondary, 

194. 
Ferrus,  22. 
Fixation  point.  113. 
Fixation  text,  181. 
Foddcre,  158. 
Fresh  air,  249. 
Fricdjung,  294. 
Froebel,  5,  230. 
Functional  disorders,  210. 


INDEX 


381 


Ganglion  collf?.  38,  40,  41,  44. 

Ganglion  fclls,  motor,  43. 

Ganglion  cells  of  the  cerebel- 
lum, 64. 

Genius,  65. 

German  Gymnastics,  258. 

Goddanl,  123,  179. 

Goggenmos,  18. 

Goiter,  causes  of,  159. 

Goiter  regions,  158. 

Gordon,  19. 

Griesinger,  21. 

Groszmann,  146. 

Growtb,  slowness  of,  7. 

Guggenbiilil,  4,  18,  19,  20,  21, 
23,  24,  25,  26. 

Gulick.  L.,  278. 

Guye,  154. 

Gymnastics  and  fatigue,  258. 

Gymnastic  exercises,  251. 

Haeckel,  the  basic  biogenetic 
law,  formulated  by,  95. 

Hand,  training  of  the,  275. 

Hardening  procedures,  251. 

Head  injury,  189. 

Hebephrenia,   197. 

Hecker,  197. 

Heller,  20,  99,  105,  122,  182, 
286,  336,  339. 

Helmholz.  193. 

Herbart,  276. 

Heredity,  82. 

Heredity,  Mendelian  law  of, 
84-89. 

Herterich's  folding  store-coun- 
ter for  the  instruction  of 
feeble-minded  children,  354. 

Heubner,  324. 

Heuristic  Method,  232. 

Hill,   William,  155. 

Himraler,  Josias,  167. 

Holmes,  Edmond,  146,  235, 
304. 

Homo  sapiens  ferus,  22. 

Hydrocephalus,  192,  324. 

Hypnosis,  in  the  province  of 
the  physician  only,  339. 

Hysteria,  215. 

Idiocy,  16,  17.  178. 
Idiocy,  alcoholism  as  the  cause 
of,  187. 


Idiocy,  apathetic,  201. 
Idiocy,  apperception  in,  179. 
Idiocy,  attention  in,  199. 
Idiocy,  brain  changes  in,  190. 
Idiocy,  classification  of,  178. 
Idiocy,  cruelty  in  the  treatment 

of.  17,  18. 
Idiocy,  erithltic,  201. 
Idiocy,    one-sided    talents    in, 

203. 
Idiocy,  sense  deception  in,  201. 
Idiocy,    speech    deficiency    in, 

205. 
Idiocy,  syphilis  as  a  cause  of, 

188 
Idiots!  10,  184. 
Idiots,  bad  habits  of,  334. 
Idiots,  care  of  incurable,  363. 
Imagination,  105. 
Imbeciles,  184. 
Impressions,    sensory,    42,    46, 

56. 
Impulses,   natural,   235. 
Individuality,  see  child. 
Individuality  in  nature.  147. 
Individualization,  principle  of, 

4,  7,  8,  23. 
Indolence,  8. 
Inner  seeing,  112. 
Instincts,  235. 
Institutions     for     the     unedu- 

cable,  366. 
Instruction,  group,  348. 
Instruction,  individual,  348. 
Instruction,  manual,  276. 
Instruction,   sexual,   139. 
Intellectual  development  of  the 

child,  95,  275. 
Iphofen   on   cretinic  degenera- 
tion, 158. 
Iris,  contraction  of,  37. 
Itard,  22,  229. 

Kafemann,  155. 
Keller,   Helen,  60. 
Kindergarten  occupations,  276. 
Koch,  Wilhelm,  291,  341. 
Kocher,  162. 
Kraepelin,  22. 

Lange  on  convulsions,  195. 
Lannelongue,  323. 
Laquer,  155. 


382 


INDEX 


Lcuau,  5. 
Lifbig,  5. 
Life   pursuit,   the   choico  of  a, 

315. 
liiterature,  juvenile,  308. 
Litorature,    sensational.    111. 
Locomotion,     acquirement     of, 

97. 
Lumbar,  puncture,  324. 
Luther,   17. 

Maintenance,  rule  of.  8.1. 
Malnutrition,   eonseiiuencos  of, 

24G. 
Malthusian  theory,  295. 
Manual  training,  27(5,  300. 
Marriage,  see  degenerates,  222. 
Masochism,  3.37. 
Medicine    and    pedagogics,    re- 
lations of,   30. 
Medico-pedagogics,  8-9. 
Medulla  oblongata,  35. 
Memory,  102. 
Memory-pictures,  72. 
Mendel,  Johann   (Jregor,   83. 
Mendel  and  Darwin,  87. 
Mendellan  law.  134. 
Mendelian  law    and    eugenics, 

87. 
Mental  activities,  34. 
Mental  activities,  development 

of,  74,  75,  76. 
Mental  activities  in  sleep.  08. 
Meyer,  William,  4. 
Microcephalus,   192,   193. 
Microcephaly,      treatment      of. 

321. 
Mind,  defects  of,  10. 
Mitchell,  Arthur,  168. 
Mongoloism.    108. 
Montessori  Method,  10-25,  211, 

229. 
Moral  insanity,  209. 
Moral   sense,   the,   in   children, 

307. 
Moron,  179,  184. 
Motor  centers.  36. 
Mouth  breathing,  155. 
Moving-pictures,   112. 
Music,  273. 
Musical  sense,  development  of. 

273. 
Muscular  actions,  33. 


Myxoedema,   163-165. 
My.xoedoma,  psychic  symptoms 
of,  160. 

Navratziu,   156. 
Kerve  cells,  35,  38,  39. 
Nerve  conduction,  speed  of,  61. 
Nerve  fibers,  38,  39,  41,  42,  44. 
Nerve    reactions,    specific,    50, 

51. 
Nerve,  sympathetic,  47. 
Nerves,  peripheral,  41,  45. 
Nervous  children,  211. 
Nervous  system,  .33,  34. 
Neurasthenia,  211. 
Neurites,  39. 
New-born,  care  of,  227. 
New-born,    psychic    process   in, 

112. 
Newspaper-reading,        possible 

pernicious  influence  on  chil- 
dren, 309. 
Newton,  5. 
Nietzsche,  5. 
"Normal  Type,"  15. 
Nose,    obstruction    of,    8,    153, 

155. 
Nose,  treatment  of  obstruction 

in,  320. 
Nutrition,    the,    of    the    child, 

245. 

Obedience,      mechanical,      237, 

305. 
Obscene  literature,  139. 
Obsessions.  214. 
Ontogenesis,   95. 
Open  air  life,  249. 
Organic  defects,   152. 
Overburdening,  131.  132,  290. 
Oxygen  in  sleep,  09. 

Parents,  alcoholism  of,  224. 

I'arcnts,  constitutional  diseases 
of,  135. 

Parents,  training  of,  221. 

Pedagogics  and  medicine,  re- 
lations of,   30. 

Perception,   40,   113. 

Perceptions  In  early  childhood, 
59. 

Perceptions,  sensory,  49. 

Perimetry,  56. 


INDEX 


383 


Peripheral  Nerves,  41,  45. 

I'bj'logenesis,   95. 

Pleasure,  instinctive  feeling  of, 
in  children,   107. 

Polydactylism,  86. 

Pregnancy,  surveillance  of,  220. 

Professional   careers,   316. 

Propagation  in  animals,  139, 
140. 

Propagation  in  plants,  139, 
140. 

Psychic  abnormalities,  152. 

Psychic  infection,  150. 

Psychology,  pedagogic,  31. 

Psychology,  physiological,  11- 
13. 

Psycho-physical  parallelism, 
272. 

Psychotherapy,  the  unwar- 
ranted use  of,  339. 

Pubescence,  influence  of,  197. 

Punishment,  see  reward,  306. 

Punishment,  corporal,  not  per- 
missible, 330. 

Reflexes,  37,  48,  68. 

Reil,  28. 

Reil,  rhapsodies  of.  27. 

Reward  and  punishment,  300. 

Responsibility,  148. 

Reymond,  Dubois,  257. 

Rousseau,  Jean  Jacques,  337. 

Sachs,  B..  191. 

Sadism,  337. 

Salivation,  stimulus  of,  43. 

Salzburg's  first  training-schools 

for  the  feeble-minded,  18. 
Savage  of  the  Aveyron,  21. 
Scholtz    on    degeneration    and 

regeneration,   145. 
School  furnishing,  282. 
Schools,  auxiliary,   230. 
Schools  for  the  feeble-minded. 

need  for,  288. 
Scripture.  E.   W.,   204. 
S^guin,  Edouard,  4,  22,  23,  24, 

25,  26,  338. 
Self-confidence,  enforcement  of, 

260. 
Self-development,  229. 
Sensational  literature,  111. 
Sensations  of  displeasure,  107. 


Sensations  of  pleasure,  107. 

Sense  deceptions.  52. 

Sensory  activities,  development 

of,  229. 
Sensory  impressions,  42,  46,  56. 
Sensory  organs,  34. 
Sensory  organs,  defects  of,  60. 
Sexual  dissipation,  136. 
Sexual    facts,    instruction    in, 

138. 
Shuttleworth    on    Mongoloids, 

172. 
Singing,   283. 
Sleep,  67. 

Sleep,  causes  of,  68. 
Sleep,  disordered,  213. 
Sleep,  mental  activity  in,  68. 
Social  feelings,   108. 
Soul  blindness,  79,  ISO. 
Soul  deafness,  180. 
Speech,  articulate,   78. 
Speech,     a     spur     to     logical 

thought,  119. 
Speech,  center,  36.  78. 
Speech,  correct.  285. 
Speech,     development     of,     91, 

117. 
Speech,  forms  of  expression  of, 

120. 
Speech,  organs  of,  92,  93. 
Speech,  sensory  center  of,  121. 
Spencer,  Herbert,  108. 
Spinal  cord,  37,  38. 
Sports,   256. 

Stammering,  physiological.  118. 
Sterilization,  artificial.  1S5. 
Stimulants,  dangers  of,  244. 
Strohmeyer,  182,  196,  215. 
Stuttering,  208. 
Swedish  movements,  257. 
Symptomatic   treatment,   331. 
Syphilis  and  idiocy,  188. 

Tactile  impressions,  measure- 
ment of,  128. 

Therapeutic  training.  319. 

"The  Only  child,"  296. 

Thought  association,  64,  92. 

Thought  concentration  of,  54, 
56. 

Thyroid  extract.  328. 

Thyroid  gland.  9,  161. 

Training  school  for  cretins,  18. 


384 


INDEX 


Traumatism,  189. 
Tuberculosis  and  idiocy,  188. 
Tul)erciilosis,  lioreditary  trans- 
mission of,  135. 

Varial)ility.  law  of,  82. 
Vasectomy,  18;"). 
Vegetations,   see  adenoid. 
Vircliow,   194. 
Vocal  orpans.  02. 
Voisin,   22,    354. 


Walking,  development  of,  254. 
Woygandt,  17,  205,  350. 
Will,   diseases   of   the,   218. 
Will,  strength  of,  305. 
"Wonder-children,"  5. 
Word   blindness.   79. 
Word  deafness,  79. 
Writing,  280. 

Wundt,  Wilhelm.  29,  112,  183. 
Wundt's  law,  331. 


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